§ Mr. Lomasasked the Minister of Health if he will give the average salaries of general practitioners and consultants in 1957 and 1964; and if he will estimate the average amount received over and above their salary from private practice.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonGeneral medical practitioners do not receive salaries, but are paid fees and allowances designed to provide those remunerated from the central pool (for Great Britain) with an204W average net income of predetermined amount after they have met their expenses. For 1964–65 the average net income to be earned from all official sources was £2,765. The Royal Commission on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration, after allowing for certain changes in the pool system, estimated the corresponding figure for 1955–56 at £1,975, and this was increased by about £100 from 1st May, 1957.
The current salary scale for whole-time consultants in the hospital service, which was operative in 1964, is £2,910 rising to £4,445, excluding distinction awards. The scale operative at 1st May, 1957, was 205W £2,205 rising to £3,255 in the case of consultants appointed at age 32 or over and excluding distinction awards.
Information on private earnings of part-time consultants is not available, nor information about private earnings of general practitioners in 1957 and 1964, but it has been estimated that in 1962–63 general practitioners remunerated from the central pool received on average about £170 from non-official sources.