General Practitioners (Hansard, 8 September 2003)

§ Mr. Dorrell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioner posts in Leicestershire are vacant. [127269]

§ Dr. Ladyman
The information is not held centrally in the format requested.

§ Dr. Fox
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners have entered general practice in each of the last six years; and how many have retired. [127384]

§ Mr. Hutton
It is not possible to provide comparable figures for general practitioners joining the work force and those retiring from the work force. This is because the time sequences and groups covered differ. The available information is set out in the tables.

Numbers of Unrestricted Principals and Equivalent (UPE) general practitioners joining the workforce 1996–97 to 2001–02

Year¹ Number of UPEs² joining
General Practice

1996–97 1,302

1997–98 1,333

1998–99 1,229

1999–2000 1,203

2000–01 1,452

2001–02 1,633

Notes
¹12-month periods October to September
² UPEs include General Medical Services (GMS) Unrestricted Principals, Personal Medical Services (PMS) Contracted GPs and PMS Salaried GPs.
Source:
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics
193W

Numbers of general practitioners¹ retiring in the financial years ending 1996–97 to 2002–03

Year² Number of GPs retiring³

1996–97 537

1997–98 509

1998–99 457

1999–2000 339

2000–01 584

2001–02 604

2002–03 532

Notes:
¹ These figures include UPEs and all other GPs
² 12 month periods April to March
³ These figures include retirements on the grounds of age and voluntary early retirements before the NHS Pension Scheme's normal retirement age of 60
Source
NHS Pensions Agency

§ Mr. Burns
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the average length of time GPs in England spent with their patients in individual consultations in the last 12 months. [127454]

§ Mr. Hutton
The data are not collected either routinely or by health authority.
Under the new general medical services contract, which will be introduced from 1 April 2004, length of consultation is one of the indicators within the quality and outcomes framework. Practices will be able to increase earnings if they provide appointments and consultations which equal or exceed the times specified in the framework.

§ Mr. Burns
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the population in(a) Greater London and (b) England are registered with a GP. [127503]

§ Mr. Hutton
The vast majority of the population is registered with a general practitioner. At 30 September 2002 (the latest published data), 8,122,456 people were recorded as registered with a GP or with a provider of personal medical services (PMS) in the areas covered by the five London strategic health authorities. In England, 51,552,391 people were recorded as registered with a GP or a provider of PMS.
However, these figures are greater than their respective population figures. Therefore, it is not possible to express accurately the percentages of the population that are covered. This is due to "list inflation". This arises where a patient moves his or her registration and for a transitional period may be registered on two lists. Similarly, an individual who dies or moves outside London and/or England may remain on a list for a time.

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contingency plans he has made in the event of doctors rejecting GP contracts. [109922]

§ Mr. Hutton
General practitioners voted overwhelmingly to support the new general medical services contract on 20 June.

§ Mr. Burns
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on GP recruitment. [127491]
194W

§ Mr. Hutton
The NHS Plan set a target of recruiting an additional 2,000 general practitioners (GPs) between 1999 and 2004. A range of measures have been put in place to increase GP recruitmentThe number of GP registrars has increased from 1,340 in 1997 to 2,070 in March 2003 providing a substantial increase in the number of qualified GPs. The GP Returner Scheme launched in November 2002 provides a clear, supported route back into general practice. Under the scheme returning GPs receive paid, individually tailored refresher training (full- or part-time) a dedicated return coordinator with whom they meet regularly, and a contribution towards their professional expenses. The Golden Hello Scheme offers up to £5,000 to new GPs or those returning to practice from the Retainer Scheme, with up to a further £7,000 if they take up post in an area designated as under-doctored. On 29 November 2002 the scheme was extended to qualified doctors who are not currently working in national health service general practice who return to take up an NHS post. In November 2002 the Flexible Careers Scheme, which only applied to hospital doctors, was extended to offer GPs new options to work more flexibly, to work part-time and to give them a route back to practice when they want to return to the NHS. The NHS Delayed Retirement Scheme (formerly Golden Goodbye Scheme) which pays £2,000 per year to GPs between the ages of 60 and 64 inclusive who continue to work in a substantive primary care post. Increased funding for locum cover for family doctors for maternity, paternity and adoptive leave. A £22 million training package to increase the number of GP trainers and training practices. A £55 million package to improve primary care premises in deprived parts of the country including new premises to train and employ more GPs.
Alongside these initiatives there is the new general medical services contract, which will provide GPs with the opportunities and funding to improve their working lives by allowing them to opt out of providing out-of-hours arrangements and additional services. This will make it easier for them to work flexibly and move in and out of salaried and independent contractor status and enable a new portfolio approach to career development which will make it easier for GPs to adapt their career to suit their aspirations.
We are now starting to see significant increases in the number of GPs. In the six months to 31 March 2003, GP numbers grew by 500. 1,240 of the NHS Plan target has now been delivered and we expect to see further increases as these measures take effect.

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioner vacancies there were in each primary care trust in 2002 and how many there are now. [127525]

§ Mr. Hutton
In the 2002 General Practitioner Recruitment Retention and Vacancy Survey, health authorities reported that 2,615 GP vacancies were recorded at some stage during the period March 2001 to February 2002.
Figures for individual primary care trusts are not available because the data for the 2002 survey were returned in aggregate form by the former health authorities that existed at the time.
195W
The 2003 GP Recruitment, Retention and Vacancy Survey will be published later this year.

§ Peter Bradley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average GP waiting times were in the Wrekin in each year since 1997. [127580]

§ Dr. Ladyman
The information is not available in the form requested.
At March 2003, results from a primary care access survey indicated that 94 per cent. of patients in Telford and Wrekin Primary Care Trust were able to be seen by a general practitioner within two days.
Prior to that, on the basis of similar data collected at health authority level, within Shropshire Health Authority, at March 2002, 80 per cent. of patients were able to be seen within two days.
At September 2001, 80 per cent. of patients were able to be seen within two days. This is the earliest date for which these data are available.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the criteria are for GPs to be eligible for a cash payment of up to £125,000 for IT. [127692]

§ Mr. Hutton
The previous arrangements for the computer reimbursement scheme were detailed in paragraph 58 of the Statement of Fees and Allowances. The scheme allowed for the direct reimbursement of a proportion of the costs incurred by a practitioner, restricted principal, partnership or group practice in purchasing, leasing or upgrading a computer system, and for maintaining the associated hardware and software. Practices were only eligible to claim reimbursement of expenditure on systems which are accredited to national standards defined in Requirements for Accreditation 99 (v1.1 and v1.2).
The new general medical services contract will facilitate the modernisation of information and technology in general practice and support the local health community. Under the contract, new money will be spent providing new systems and upgrading existing systems. In addition, primary care organisations will be responsible for funding the purchase, maintenance, future upgrades and running costs of integrated information technology systems, which includes those used in general practice.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the practices that have received payments for IT; and how much they received. [127693]

§ Mr. Hutton
There are over 8,700 practices in England. The Department of Health does not collect information on the amounts reimbursed to the individual general practitioner practices for information technology.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the operating systems which are approved by the Department of Health for GPs to receive payments for IT systems. [127694]

§ Mr. Hutton
Under current arrangements the Department of Health does not accredit operating systems for use by general practitioner practices. However, the national programme for information196W technology will be defining clear interoperability standards as new integrated care record services are rolled out across the national health service.
The clinical GP systems listed have been accredited against current Requirements for Accreditation (RFA) requirements.
RFA99v1.2:

Blue Bay/SAIC—GPS version 5.4

EMIS—PCS

Protechnic Exeter—Version 19

Healthy Software—Version 5

In Health Solutions—Ganymede version 5.1

Microtest—Practice Manager 2 version 1.7.1

The Phoenix Partnership—System One version 1

RFA99v1.1:

Chime—GP Care Version 4

EMIS—LV5.2 and GV2 version 2

In Practice Systems—Vision Version 3

Seetec—GP Enterprise Version 1.5

Torex Health—Premiere Version 2.2, Premiere Synergy Version 1.0, System 6000 version 3.3 and System 5 version 5.8

Torex Pennine—Visual Phoenix version 2.1

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) male and (b) female GPs have switched to working part-time since 1st July 2002. [127529]

§ Mr. Hutton
The number of female and male general practitioners who have switched to working part-time since 31 March 2002 is shown in the table.

All practitioners1 working full-time as at 31 March 2002 and part-time as at 30 September 2002 by sex

Numbers (headcount)

Practitioners Female Male

England Total 320 174 146

¹ All practitioners include GMS unrestricted principals, PMS contracted GPs, PMS salaried GPs, restricted principals, assistants, GP Registrars, Salaried Doctors (paragraph 52 SFA), PMS other and GP Retainers.

Information can only be provided as at 31 March 2002 and 30 September 2002 because these are the dates when the workforce mini census and workforce annual census were carried out respectively.

§ Tim Loughton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new(a) male and (b) female GPs opted to work part-time between 1 January and 30 June in (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003. [127530]

§ Mr. Hutton
Information can only be provided between 30 September 2001 and 31 March 2002 and 30 September 2002 and 31 March 2003, because there are the dates when the workforce annual census and workforce mini census were carried out.
The number and proportion of new male and female general practitioners (GPs) who opted to work part time between 30 September 2001 and 31 March 2002 are shown in table 1.
The number and proportion of new male and female GPs who opted to work part time between 30 September 2002 and 31 March 2003 are shown in table 2.
197W

Table 1: Unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs)¹ joiners by commitment and sex, between 30 September 2001 and 31 March 2002

Total Full-time Of which Male Female Part-time Percentages
all joiners
working
part-time
Of which Male Percentages
male joiners
working
part-time
Female Percentages
female joiners
working
part-time

Joiners 800 436 274 164 364 45.5 99 26.5 265 62.1

Of which

New Joiners 519 305 189 116 214 41.2 50 21 164 58.5

Re-joiners 281 131 85 46 150 53.4 49 36.6 101 68.7

Note:
UPEs include GMS Unrestricted principals, PMS Contracted GPs and PMS salaried GPs.
Source:
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics

Table 2: Unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs)¹ joiners by commitment and sex, between 30 September 2002 and 31 March 2003 (numbers-headcount)

Total Full-time Of which Male Female Part-time Percentages
all joiners
working
Part-time
Of which Male Percentages
male joiners
working
part-time
Female Percentages
Female joiners
working
part-time

Joiners 977 568 339 229 409 42.0 120 26.0 289 55.7

Of which

New joiners 596 372 218 154 224 37.6 47 17.7 177 53.5

Re-joiners 381 196 121 75 185 48.5 73 37.6 112 59.8

Note:
UPEs include GMS Unrestricted principals, PMS contracted GPs and PMS salaried GPs.
Source:
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

Numbers of Unrestricted Principals and Equivalent (UPE) general practitioners joining the workforce 1996–97 to 2001–02
Year¹	Number of UPEs² joining General Practice
1996–97	1,302
1997–98	1,333
1998–99	1,229
1999–2000	1,203
2000–01	1,452
2001–02	1,633

Numbers of general practitioners¹ retiring in the financial years ending 1996–97 to 2002–03
Year²	Number of GPs retiring³
1996–97	537
1997–98	509
1998–99	457
1999–2000	339
2000–01	584
2001–02	604
2002–03	532

All practitioners1 working full-time as at 31 March 2002 and part-time as at 30 September 2002 by sex
Numbers (headcount)
	Practitioners	Female	Male
England Total	320	174	146
¹ All practitioners include GMS unrestricted principals, PMS contracted GPs, PMS salaried GPs, restricted principals, assistants, GP Registrars, Salaried Doctors (paragraph 52 SFA), PMS other and GP Retainers.

Table 1: Unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs)¹ joiners by commitment and sex, between 30 September 2001 and 31 March 2002
	Total	Full-time	Of which	Male	Female	Part-time	Percentages all joiners working part-time	Of which	Male	Percentages male joiners working part-time	Female	Percentages female joiners working part-time
Joiners	800	436		274	164	364	45.5		99	26.5	265	62.1
Of which
New Joiners	519	305		189	116	214	41.2		50	21	164	58.5
Re-joiners	281	131		85	46	150	53.4		49	36.6	101	68.7

Table 2: Unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs)¹ joiners by commitment and sex, between 30 September 2002 and 31 March 2003 (numbers-headcount)
	Total	Full-time	Of which	Male	Female	Part-time	Percentages all joiners working Part-time	Of which	Male	Percentages male joiners working part-time	Female	Percentages Female joiners working part-time
Joiners	977	568		339	229	409	42.0		120	26.0	289	55.7
Of which
New joiners	596	372		218	154	224	37.6		47	17.7	177	53.5
Re-joiners	381	196		121	75	185	48.5		73	37.6	112	59.8