§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of doctors in the National Health Service in 1979 and in the latest available year.
§ Mr. FreemanThe information requested is set out in the table.
Table: Doctors in the NHS hospital and community health services1 and family practitioner services: England, number. 1979 1987 Hospital2 32,607 36,212 Community Health Services3 5,095 5,542 Family Practitioner Services4 23,062 27,023 Total 60,764 68,777 1 Includes permanent paid and honorary staff as at 30 September each year 2 Excludes hospital practitioners and those employed under para 94 of the Terms and Conditions of Service ("clinical assistants") to avoid double counting of staff who are also family practitioners. 3 Excludes Community Medicine and all occasional sessional staff. 4 As at 1 October each year.
§ Mr. Sean HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether, in the light of paragraph 3.12 of the White Paper, "Working for Patients", Cm 555, it is his intention to extend local settlements of pay and conditions to those employed in the general dental service;
(2) whether he envisages setting up an audit system for general dental practitioners similar to that proposed for general medical practitioners, with a role for dental practice advisers.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe Government's policy for the General Dental Service was set out in chapter 4 of the White Paper on primary care (Cm 249) "Promoting Better Health". This included proposals to introduce part time 255W practice advisers in a number of FPC areas as a means of improving quality control procedures and to begin discussions with the profession on changes to the dental practitioners' contract including new arrangements to assist dentists with the costs of setting up practices in area where there are too few dentists.