§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the total numbers of general practitioners in the area covered by the 16 London area health authorities, and the number who have contracted out to emergency call services for nights and weekends; and what is her estimate of the number of qualified doctors engaged in the call services.
§ Dr. OwenThere are 3,625 general practitioners in the 16 areas, of whom approximately 2,230 have authority to use a deputising service. Information is not available as to the extent of use made of the deputising services by these250W doctors. All doctors employed by the five deputising services operating in the area are qualified; I estimate that the total is about 250.