HC Deb 08 May 1973 vol 856 cc186-7
12. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he is taking to ensure that all patients in National Health Service hospitals have full consultant cover.

Sir K. Joseph

All in-patients in National Health Service hospitals have a consultant responsible for their treatment, except for certain general practitioner hospitals or units. The number of consultants is being steadily increased, and hospital authorities' programmes provide for over 400 new consultant posts to be established in the 12 months up to March 1974.

Mrs. Short

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the affluent South East there is the highest concentration of consultants per 100,000 of the population? Is he further aware that about 835 consultant posts are vacant and that many regions are not getting the cover which he claims? Does he appreciate that even if he gets his 400 extra consultants they will still not fill all the vacant posts?

Sir K. Joseph

I hope that I am not being at all complacent. There is certainly a thin coverage in some areas and I am particularly worried about the shortage against the growing recognition of specialties such as geriatrics. The number of vacancies does not reflect the real position because many of the vacancies are covered by locums. We are doing our very best to increase the number of specialists in the specialties where there are shortages.

Dr. Summerskill

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider linking merit awards, which involve millions of pounds a year, to special consultant posts where there is a shortage, such as in psychiatry and geriatics, and to those areas of the country which are short of consultants, rather than giving merit awards to unknown doctors for unnamed reasons?

Sir K. Joseph

It would be wrong for me to undertake to consider the use of awards which are designed to reward merit for other purposes. That is not to say that the Government are not anxious to fill the vacancies in the specialties and in the regions.