HC Deb 09 December 1957 vol 579 cc882-3
33. Mr. Blenkinsop

asked the Minister of Health whether he has any proposals to make regarding the future employment of hospital registrars whose appointments are due to terminate in a few months' time.

54. Mr. D. Griffiths

asked the Minister of Health if he will set up an impartial committee with a lay chairman to examine the position of senior registrars' and consultants' posts and the remuneration for trained consultants and specialists.

27. Mr. K. Robinson

asked the Minister of Health if he has yet reached a decision as to the future of senior registrars who have completed four years in their grade.

Mr. Walker-Smith

I am already in consultation with the profession on the position of senior registrars who have completed the normal term of service in the grade but have not obtained higher appointments. There is, therefore, no need for a special committee on the subject. Questions of remuneration are being considered by the Royal Commission on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration.

Mr. Blenkinsop

is the right hon. and learned Gentleman satisfied that he is in consultation with people who are fully representative of this group of hospital staff? Is he satisfied that he is not taking his advice purely from a very small and not fully representative section?

Mr. Walker-Smith

I certainly had not heard that suggestion before. My consultations with the Joint Consultants Committee are, I think, very satisfactory.

Mr. D. Griffiths

Is the Minister aware that there are 400 senior registrars fully trained, and, furthermore, they cannot get recognised for consultant posts? Is it not crystal clear that both the Ministry itself and the consultants' organisation have failed in their duty to these people?

Mr. Walker-Smith

The figure of 400 included large groups who had either not completed four years' training or were unlikely to be seeking ordinary consultant posts. The latest figure available to me of senior registrars in this position was 90, together with another 136 who were in their fourth year of training and who might, therefore, encounter the same difficulties. I say that to put the figures straight, but, of course, I do appreciate that there is a real problem here.