HC Deb 25 January 1977 vol 924 cc574-5W
Mr. Whitlock

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the figure of consultants per 100,000 population in England and Wales and in each of the regional health authority areas, for each of the years since reorganisation of the Health Service.

Mr. Moyle

The following table gives whole time equivalent consultants per 100,000 population in post at 30th September in the stated years. Figures for 1976 are not yet available.

NUMBERS OF WHOLE-TIME EQUIVALENT HOSPITAL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CONSULTANTS PER 100,000 POPULATION
30th September 1974 30th September 1975
England and Wales* 20.74 21.31
Northern 22.02 22.49
Yorkshire 19.27 19.91
Trent 14.78 15.10
East Anglia 20.64 21.33
North West Thames 24.42 25.11
North East Thames 24.66 25.19
South East Thames 23.23 23.59
South West Thames 19.61 20.73
Wessex 19.85 20.55
Oxford 20.24 20.59
South western 17.93 18.08
West Midlands 19.51 19.47
Mersey 18.97 19.98
North western 19.09 20.17
Wales 19.46 20.36
* Includes staff of post-graduate teaching hospitals which are not included in any individual regional figure.

Mr. Whitlock

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services for how many years current allocations of consultant posts would need to be continued to bring the figure of consultants per 100,000 population in the Trent Regional Health Authority up to the national average.

Mr. Moyle

If regions were allocated the same number of new consultant posts each year as they were in 1976–77, and if all of these posts were filled, then the number of consultants per 100,000 population in the Trent Region would equal the then current national average some time between 1985 and 1990. On the same assumptions, consultant staffing in Trent would equal the present national average by 1980.