§ LORD AMULREEasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they can now make an announcement about the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Medical Education on post-graduate medical education.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY (Baroness Serota)The Government's consultations with interested organisations about the Royal Commission's recommendations in the field of postgraduate medical education have shown widespread acceptance that a system of vocational, or specialist, registration should be introduced on the lines recommended in the Report. The General Medical Council have indicated their willingness to undertake the role of registration authority, subject to amendment of the Medical Act to widen their powers. The Government accordingly intends to introduce the necessary legislation as soon as possible to enable the General Medical Council to maintain specialist registers.
1174WASecondly, all concerned agree in seeing a need for a new central body to coordinate the planning of postgraduate medical training, to consider its future and to give advice to the bodies already active in this field. Together with my right hon. friends the Secretary of: State for Education and Science and the Secretary of State for Wales my right hon. friend the Secretary of State for Social Services will therefore shortly be inviting the main interests to a meeting to consider and, he hopes, agree detailed proposals for the establishment of a Central Council on Postgraduate Medical Education which we would hope to see in operation during the course of this; year. My right hon. friend the Secretary of State for Scotland will be taking similar action with a view to setting up a separate Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical Education.
The introduction of a system of specialist registration and the establishment of a Central Council will provide the organisational framework to implement the necessary improvements in postgraduate medical education, recommended by the Royal Commission and to which we attach considerable importance. My right hon. friend intends to accord these developments a high priority within resources available for the health service.
The Government accepts the Royal Commission's view on how the cost should be divided—namely that the National Health Service should pay for professional postgraduate training for National Health Service doctors and the universities for academic training.