§ 11. Mr. K. Robinsonasked the Minister of Health what steps he is taking to stimulate the teaching of psychological medicine to medical students and to provide sufficient psychiatrists to man the expanding mental health services.
§ Mr. PowellI have no powers with regard to the content of the medical curriculum. As to the second part of the Question, the number of senior registrar posts allocated to psychiatry and of consultants and senior hospital medical officers employed in this specialty has been increasing and continues to increase steadily.
§ Mr. RobinsonIs the Minister aware that the rate of increase is nothing like adequate and that we want something like double the number of psychiatrists that we have got? Does the Minister not appreciate that he simply will not get the psychiatrists he needs unless he or somebody can do something about the content of medical education?
§ Mr. PowellThe supply of consultants and others in this specialty has been increasing much faster than in other lines of medicine. The number of persons under training in the senior registrar grade indicates that that increase should continue. It is, however, the number that can be trained and the intake into training which ultimately determines the supply.