§ Dr. MurrisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many recognised hospital training posts were available last year; [178264]
(2) what plans his Department has to increase the number of recognised hospital training posts. [178266]
§ Mr. HuttonAs at September 2003, there were 14,619 staff within the registrar group, 18,698 senior house officers (SHOs—this may include a proportion of doctors who are on local terms and conditions) and 4,003 pre-registration house officers (PRHOs).
The number of PRHO posts has been increasing since the mid 1990s to accommodate the increasing numbers of medical school graduates requiring PRHO posts. As a result of the increases in medical school places announced between 1999 and 2001, we plan to increase the number of PRHO posts by over 2,250, or 56.7 per cent. between the current number and that required in August 2008.
1343WWe have achieved and exceeded the NHS Plan target of increasing the number of specialist registrars (SpRs) by 1,000 by March 2004. Central funding to support the implementation of a further 119 SpR posts is being distributed in 2004–05. Funding has also been identified for a further 42 posts in 2005–06.
In addition, strategic health authorities have been given the freedom to agree as many additional specialist registrar training places as are necessary to achieve European Working Time Directive compliance, subject to obtaining educational approval.
Numbers of SHO posts are not planned centrally.
However, the structure of postgraduate training will change over the next few years with the implementation of the "Modernising Medical Careers" initiative. This will include:
the introduction of two-year foundation programmes to replace the existing PRHO year and first year of SHO training. This will be introduced from August 2005;the development of "run-through" training programmes to replace the existing SHO and SpR grades from August 2007.