HC Deb 14 July 1978 vol 953 cc817-8W
Mr. Forrester

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many general practitioners are now in full-time practice in Stoke-on-Trent; and how many were in practice in 1960, 1965, 1970 and 1976 and the latest available date;

(2) what is the average number of patients for each general practitioner in Stoke-on-Trent; and what was the num- ber in 1950, 1965, 1970 and 1976 and at the latest available date.

Mr. Deakins

The table gives the number of general medical practitioners offering the full range of general medical services and their average list size at 1st October of the year stated. Information is not available on the proportion who worked full-time.

Date Number of G.P.s Average list size
1961* 105 2,546
1965 108 2,723
1970 104 2,798
1976 109
1977 108
* Earliest available.
†Figures for average list size in Stoke-on-Tren are not available for years following 1974; those for the Staffordshire area health authority were 2,559 in 1976 and 2,502 in 1977

Mr. Forrester

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many general practitioners have ceased to practise in Stoke-on-Trent in each of the last three years; how many have been replaced; and, in how many cases, and what number of patients have been allocated to other practices.

Mr. Deakins

This information is not available centrally for Stoke-on-Trent. The number of general practitioners ceasing to practise in the Staffordshire area as a whole was 30 in 1974–75, 24 in 1975–76 and 16 in 1976–77, while the number of general practitioners offering the full range of services at 1st October in each year rose from 374 in 1975 and 383 in 1976 to 396 in 1977.

Mr. Forrester

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many general practitioner group practices there are in Stoke-on-Trent; and how many are now operating from health centres.

Mr. Moyle

There are 16 general practitioner group practices in Stoke-on-Trent, of which three group practices use health centre accommodation as main surgeries. In addition, a total of 17 doctors from the other 13 group practices have branch surgeries at health centres.