Oncology Consultants (Hansard, 3 December 2002)

§ Ms Blears

[holding answer answer 25 November 2002]The information requested is not available; there are 34 cancer networks, which are based around flows of

Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2002—vacancies in NHS trusts by DHSC and strategic health authority, specific consultant specialties—three month vacancy rates, numbers and staff in post
	Clinical oncology (excluding HA staff)
	Three month vacancy rate (percentage)	Three month vacancy (number)	Staff in post (wte)	Staff in post (hc)
England	6.4	20	290	320
Midlands and Eastern	5.4	10	90	90
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	0.0	0	20	20
Birmingham and the Black Country	23.1	0	10	10
Coventry, Warwickshire, Hereford and Worcester	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Essex	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	0.0	0	10	10
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	9.7	0	20	20
Shropshire and Staffordshire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Trent	0.0	0	10	10
London	4.5	0	40	50
North Central London	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
North East London	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
North West London	6.4	0	10	20
South East London	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
South West London	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Northern	10.8	10	90	100
Cheshire and Merseyside	8.2	0	10	10
County Durham and Tees Valley	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Cumbria and Lancashire	38.5	10	10	10
Greater Manchester	5.3	0	20	20
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	7.3	0	10	20
South Yorkshire	0.0	0	10	10
West Yorkshire	5.9	0	20	20
South	2.7	0	70	80
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	0.0	0	20	20
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	8.5	0	10	10
Kent and Medway	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Somerset and Dorset	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
South West Peninsula	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Surrey and Sussex	0.0	0	10	10
Thames Valley	0.0	0	10	20
Special HAs	²—	²—	²—	²—

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patients to tertiary centres so they are not co-terminus with strategic health authorities (StHA). We can only provide data about oncology consultant vacancies by StHA.

The number of three-month clinical and medical oncology vacancies in StHAs is shown in the table. The current vacancy rate for clinical oncology in England is 6.4 per cent, and in medical oncology is 2.3 per cent.

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	Medical oncology (excluding HA staff)
	Three month vacancy rate (percentage)	Three month vacancy (number)	Staff in post (wte)	Staff in post (hc)
England	2.3	0	150	180
Midlands and Eastern	5.5	0	30	40
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Birmingham and the Black Country	7.1	0	10	10
Coventry, Warwickshire, Hereford and Worcester	²—	²—	²—	²—
Essex	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Shropshire and Staffordshire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Trent	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
London	0.0	0	40	50
North Central London	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
North East London	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
North West London	0.0	0	20	20
South East London	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
South West London	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Northern	0.0	0	40	50
Cheshire and Merseyside	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
County Durham and Tees Valley	²—	²—	²—	²—
Cumbria and Lancashire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Greater Manchester	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	²—	²—	²—	²—
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
South Yorkshire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
West Yorkshire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
South	3.9	0	40	50
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Kent and Medway	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Somerset and Dorset	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
South West Peninsula	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Surrey and Sussex	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Thames Valley	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
Special HAs	²—	²—	²—	²—
¹ Figures where sum of staff in post and vacancies is less than 10.
² Figures where sum of staff in post and vacancies is zero.

Key notes:

3. Three month vacancy information is as at 31 March 2002.

4. Three month vacancies are vacancies which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents).

5. Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post.

6. Three month vacancy rates are calculated using staff in post from the Vacancy Survey and the Consultant Census, March 2002.

7. Staff in post data are from the Non-Medical Workforce Census, September 2001 and the Mini Consultant Census, March 2002.

8. Staff in post data exclude staff employed by health authorities, as vacancy information was only collected from trusts, PCTs and special health authorities.

9. Medical and dental figures exclude staff in training.

10. Vacancy and staff in post numbers are rounded to the nearest 10.

11. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

Other notes:

12. Due to rounding, totals may not equal the sum of component parts.

13. Due to rounding, calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates.

14. StHA figures are based on trusts, and do not necessarily reflect the geographical provision of healthcare.

15. Figures may not match previously published data due to a different method of rounding used on the staff in post data.

Sources:

Vacancy Numbers and Rates: Department of Health Vacancies Survey March 2002 and Consultant census March 2002

Medical and Dental Staff in Post: Department of Health Consultant census March 2002