§ LORD SORENSENMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government, in view of the pressing need for doctors and surgeons in our hospitals and the fact that without the large proportion of doctors from Commonwealth and other countries now serving in our hospitals the position would be more acute, how many British doctors have emigrated permanently, or temporarily, for service in other countries during the past five and ten years; and how many of these have returned to this country to ease the shortage in our hospitals.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY (BARONESS SEROTA)My Lords, I am afraid that information is not available in the form requested by the noble Lord, but it is estimated that over the two years 1962–63 and 1963–64 a total of about 1,600 British and Irish born doctors emigrated from Great Britain and 1,100 returned; in 1964–65 about 1,000 emigrated and 500 returned; and in 1965–66 about 850 emigrated and 550 returned. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Social Services said in another place on January 27 that his aim is to improve still further, in consultation with representatives of the profession, working conditions throughout the National Health Service as the best means of encouraging doctors to remain in this country.
§ LORD SORENSENMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply, may I ask her what steps are being taken to discourage unfair denigration of 684 doctors from overseas who take the place of many of our doctors, and instead to express our appreciation of their services at the present time?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, the Government, as do all noble Lords in this House, deplore any generalised criticism which is being made of the services that are given by doctors from overseas, but we share the view of the Royal Commission on Medical Education that excessive reliance on this source of manpower is undesirable, and we are taking this into account in reviewing the needs of both British and overseas doctors.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, in view of what my noble friend has just said, can she tell me what steps are being taken, first to increase the number of medical students in this country, and secondly to remove the discrimination against women medical students in London hospitals?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, the Government agree that there is a great need to increase the number of medical school places for training British doctors—men as well as women. The annual intake to medical schools in Britain has risen from 2,020 in 1960–61 to 2,554 in 1967–68. Our final decisions on the number of places to be made available by 1975 have not yet been taken, but the expansion schemes already publicly announced so far provide for 3,300 places by that year. I can assure my noble friend—and I know that she and I will not disagree on this matter—that for my part I should be happy to see far more women being accepted in our medical schools.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, further to what my noble friend has just said—I am sorry to press her—is she aware that only a tiny proportion of women are now permitted to enter the London medical schools and that unless this limit is removed the position will remain as it is?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, I shall be very happy to convey to the Secretary of State the sense of my noble friend's remarks.
§ LORD PLATTMy Lords, in taking all these important points into consideration will Her Majesty's Government bear 685 in mind that this question of junior hospital staffing is not purely a national question, and that in the City of New York more than half the junior hospital doctors are of foreign origin, coming as they do from Puerto Rico and the Philippines?