§ 44. Mr. Oliverasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that doctors who were refused consultant status and graded as senior medical officers under the National Health Act have been compelled, in order to obtain posts carrying consultant status, to leave their hospitals and go to others and that the vacancies thus created have been advertised and filled not by doctors graded as senior medical officers but by consultants; and whether this practice has his approval.
§ Mr. BevanDuring this transitional period some posts graded for consultants are inevitably held by individuals who have been graded only as senior hospital medical officers. It must, of course, always be open to these officers to seek advertised consultant appointments at their own or other hospitals, if they think they are likely to qualify for them.
§ Mr. OliverDoes not my right hon. Friend appreciate that it causes a great deal of unnecessary hardship if doctors 1468 must move to obtain a status to which they ought to have been graded in the first place?
§ Mr. BevanOn the contrary; it would cause very considerable hardship if a doctor who has already been graded as a senior medical officer could never have a chance of being regraded as a consultant.