§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will provide figures as to the change which has taken place over the past 12 months in the number of consultant posts relative to the number of qualified junior doctors applying for vacancies for consultant posts, region by region and speciality by speciality.
§ Dr. VaughanThe most recent information on applications for consultant posts relates to the 12-month period ending on 30 September 1980. It has not yet been fully analysed, and I shall write to the hon. Member when the results are available. However, in those 12 months, the number of consultants in post and the number of posts advertised both rose, from 11,891† to 12,156† and from 1,227 to 1,272* respectively.
† includes senior hospital medical officers with allowance.
* provisional figure
427W
All posts Vacant less than 6 months Vacant 6 months but less than 1 year Vacant 1 year or more Region Numbers Wte Numbers Wte Numbers Wte Numbers Wte North West Thames 2 0.5 — — — — 2 0.5 North East Thames 5 3.0 2 1.5 — — 3 1.5 South East Thames 1 1.0 — — — — 1 1.0 South West Thames 1 0.5 — — 1 0.5 — — Wessex 1 1.0 — — 1 1.0 — — Oxford 2 2.0 — — — — 2 2.0 South Western — — — — — — — — West Midlands 7 7.0 1 1.0 6 6.0 — — Mersey 2 2.0 1 1.0 — — 1 1.0 North Western 4 2.6 2 1.6 — — 2 1.0 London PGTH's 1 0.5 — — — — 1 0.5 * Figures include all posts which were not occupied by a permanent holder at 30 September 1980 including those posts approved by the Department that have neither been occupied nor advertised.