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23.
There are many areas of social services in which I
fear that standardised cost arrangements will never really be
practicable. Subvented hospitals vary greatly in size, and
in the types of services and facilities provided; Dr. Ip
herself pointed out some of these differences, which would
make it very difficult to agree on standardised costs for
subvented medical services.
24.
Dr. Ip also proposed that agencies should be
allowed to raise their own funds to provide a better service
than the agreed standard. This is of course possible under
the present social welfare subvention system; and we were
able some years ago to abolish the unfortunate "see-saw"
effect, which had resulted in money raised by the agencies
themselves being deducted from their subventions.
25.
The whole question of subvention arrangements is
clearly a subject which needs further study, and I would
like to thank Dr. Ip for her thoughtful contribution to the
discussion.
26.
Sir, I support the motion.
M