§ Q5. Mr. Pagetasked the Prime Minister if he will institute an inquiry into the recruitment of doctors for the Services and for the National Health Service, in order to ascertain how the best use can be made of the limited number of doctors available.
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. Friends the Minister of Defence and the Service Ministers have given close attention to the problem of recruitment of doctors for the Armed Forces in recent months, and details of the measures which are being introduced for attracting more doctors into the Armed Forces have recently been announced.
My right hon. Friend the Minister of Health said on 29th November last, in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester. Wythenshawe (Mrs. Hill), that he and the Secretary of State for Scotland had already carried out a review bearing on the recruitment of doctors generally. There is close and continuous co-ordination between the Health and Defence Departments, and I see no need for a further inquiry.
§ Mr. PagetIs it not the fact that the additional doctors who are attracted to the Services must be attracted from the National Health Service which is itself very short of doctors? Is not this auction between Government Departments a little odd, and have the Departments really examined the extent to which the Forces in this country can co-ordinate their medical services and economise on the extent to which, whilst in England, they use the National Health Service, and the extent to which they can make use of the services of retired consultants, who are often very capable men and, at 65, are able to do a lot of work of this sort? Is it not 635 worth their while looking into the problem?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that all these suggestions are being borne in mind, and some acted upon. Medical officers have to be posted to all parts of the world, and it would be hardly fair to those already serving if all the attractive posts were taken by volunteers from civil life. We have to recognise, with regard to the general supply, that the Services no longer have to release doctors on National Service, so those doctors are no longer available.
§ Mr. PagetBut surely there is a case for looking into it. Is not this a case where we ought to set up a committee, when there is such a demand from Government Departments on such a limited supply of doctors?
§ The Prime MinisterIf I thought that a new committee would help, I would certainly look into the suggestion. Discussions are at present taking place with the British Medical Association, and we have also had the benefit of a panel of very distinguished advisers—Sir Cecil Wakeley, Dr. E. R. Boland and Sir Stanford Cade—who, in a sense, form a committee for this purpose.
§ Mr. GaitskellWhile I recognise the importance of having enough doctors and dentists in the Services, how do these particular proposals fit in with the Government's pay-pause policy?
§ The Prime MinisterThis is a decision that was announced, and I think that it was right. It is not possible to keep absolutely to the letter of any system—[HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, hear."]—and in this particular case, where we are moving from National Service to voluntary service, we have had to recognise the difference there is between having conscripted men, or doctors, and employing them voluntarily.
§ Mr. GaitskellBut is not the point that the Government feel it necessary to raise the pay of these doctors and dentists because there is a shortage of them, and do not exactly the same considerations apply in the case of the nurses?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. In that case, we are not moving from a compulsory, conscript Service to voluntary service.