§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many hours on average were worked weekly by(a) consultants, (b) registrars,(c) senior house officers and (d) junior house officers at each of the Province's health trusts in the most recent period for which figures were available. [157395]
§ Angela SmithThe information requested is provided in the table. Detailed information of this nature, however, is not routinely collected by trusts and can be difficult to obtain due to the non-standard working patterns of medical staff. Where precise figures have been unavailable, a number of trusts have attempted to provide a best estimate or range.
971W
Number of hours (on average) worked by consultants, registrars, senior house officers and junior house officers—week beginning 26 January 2004 (unless otherwise indicated)
Health and social services trusts Consultants Registrars Senior House Officers Junior House Officers Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust7 68.0 65.0 62.0 56.0 Ulster Community and Hospital Group HSS Trust8 N/A N/A N/A N/A United Hospitals Group HSS Trust N/A 53.3 48.8 47.6 1Altnagelvin Group HSS Trust cannot readily provide number of hours worked. The majority of the doctors are contracted for a basic 40 hours per week but many are working alternative shift patterns and are on 'on call' rotas. 2Craigavon and Banbridge Community HSS Trust has provided approximate hours worked as the medical staff participate on 'on-call' rotas. As such, hours worked each week will vary depending on the intensity of work required in that particular week. 3Greenpark Healthcare HSS Trust cannot readily provide number of hours worked. 4Homefirst Community HSS Trust has provided figures supplied from the trust's last monitoring return. Information supplied is as at February 2004. 5Mater Infirmorum Hospital HSS Trust cannot provide figures for consultant hours as they are currently undertaking a diary exercise on hours worked and this information is not available at present but will be available in due course. 6Newry and Mourne HSS Trust have not monitored hours in the period so they can only give an approximation based on the rotas set out for each grade of staff. 7Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust have provided consultant figures from 2001 Consultant Appraisal Exercise and Registrar, SHO and Junior House Officer figures from Junior Doctors New Deal Monitoring. 8Ulster Community and Hospitals Group HSS Trust has not provided figures due to the disproportionate cost of obtaining the information.