§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average number of hours worked per week by general practitioners is. [56911]
§ Mr. HuttonWe do not collect actual hours worked by general practitioners, however we do collect contractual commitments i.e. full time, three quarter time, job share and half time. This information is available in table 3 and 4 of the Statistical Bulletin 'Statistics for General Medical Practitioners in England: 1991–2001' copies of which are available in the Library.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 29 April,Official Report, column 631W, whether the findings of the Department's policy research programme and the health technology assessment programme will play a part in the criteria in allocating extra GP golden hello funding for local PCTs. [59556]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 24 May 2002]: The current list of under-doctored primary care trusts eligible for additional payments under the national health service general practitioner golden hello scheme is based on general medical services census data and comprises the lower 50 per cent. of primary care trusts assessed on the basis of the number of general practitioners per 100,000 weighted head of population.
We have undertaken to review the list of under-doctored primary care trusts periodically but do not propose to depart from using census data as the basis for the list.