§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects of allowing general practices to sell goodwill as part of the new General Medical Services contracts. [165795]
§ Mr. HuttonThe sale of goodwill will cover less than 10 per cent. of primery medical services.
The long-standing prohibition on the purchase and sale of goodwill by medical practices providing essential services to a list of registered patients continues. Extending the ban to providers of other services is not necessary, nor is there any justification for depriving certain other providers of their existing rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average general practitioner list size was in(a) Birmingham and (b) the Black Country in each of the last 10 years. [165804]
§ Dr. LadymanThe information is not available in the format requested.
Table 1 shows the average general practice list size for the area covered by Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority for the years 1993 to 2003.
Table 2 shows the average list size for the primary care trusts within Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority since 2001.
261W
Table 1: Unrestricted Principals and Equivalents1 (UPEs) average list size for Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic
Health Authority, 1993–20032
Average list size 1993 1,993 1994 1,972 1995 1,955 1996 1,945 1997 1,941 1998 1,930 1999 1,967 2000 1,927 2001 1.943 2002 1,928 2003 1,929
Table 2: Unrestricted Principals and Equivalents1 (UPEs) average list size for Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic
Health Authority, by Primary Cme Trust, 2001–033
2001 2002 2003 (a) Birmingham South Birmingham PCT 1,716 1,659 1,684 North Birmingham PCT 1,886 1,942 1,939 Heart of Birmingham PCT 2,203 2,299 2,315 East Birmingham PCT 1,991 2,024 2,082 (b) Black Country Dudley South PCT 1,927 1,855 1,857 Dudley Beacon and Castle PCT 2,075 2,082 2,003 Walsall PCT 2,063 2,002 1,899 Oldbury and Smethwick PCT 1,884 1,867 1,880 Rowley, Regis and Tipton PCT 2,022 2,041 1,914 Wednesbury and West Bromwich PCT 2,063 1,960 1,994 Wolverhampton City PCT 1,959 1,930 1,925 (c) Other Solihull PCT 1,786 1,795 1,853 1UPEs includes GMS Unrestricted Principals, PMS Contracted GPs and PMS Salaried GPs. 2 Data as at 1 October for the years 1993–99, 30 September for the years 2000–03. 3 All data as at 30 September. Source: Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.
§ Mr. LansleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many developments by general practitioner practices have been halted as a result of the Department's requirement that contracts needed to be signed by 30 September 2003; and how many of these have subsequently proceeded with the support of their primary care trust. [165873]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department is unaware of any general practitioner scheme that h is been cancelled as a result of the change to single cast limited budget. The 30 September 2003 date was used as a means for identifying base line premise allocations. These have since been supplemented by a further premise growth allocation in March 2004 to lead primary care trusts in each strategic health authority area.
§ Jeremy CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what his latest estimate is of the average general practitioner practice case load within Camden and Islington; how many general practitioner groups are expected to retire in the next 12 months; and how many new general practitioners he expect is to be appointed in Camden and Islington in the next 12 months. [166350]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department does not collect centrally the information requested. However, there has been an increase of 256 general practitioners, excluding retainers and registrars, in London since 1999. London primary care trusts are planning to recruit over 200 additional GPs between July 2003 and March 2006.