§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he has instituted to improve the recruitment of locum tenens for those junior hospital staff due for study or other regular period of leave to alleviate remaining staff from providing cover over and above contractual obligations; and how many locum staff were employed by the Health Service at the last available census date.
§ Sir George YoungNone. It is for health authorities to recruit locum tenens as necessary and I am not aware of any general difficulties in recruitment. It Is most efficient if hospital medical work is arranged so that foreseeable periods of absence are covered without the
122Wlimited list of prescribable drugs would of itself achieve lasting economies in the cost of the National Health Service or necessarily be in the best interests of patients; but this is one of the matters which it will be open to the working group to consider. [Vol. 992, c. 415.]