§ Mr. George Rodgersasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will take steps to correct the imbalance of the provisions of qualified medical personnel between the regions of the United Kingdom.
§ Mrs. CastleI am anxious to see the imbalance corrected. In my letter of 11th February to the consultants I repeated the Government's desire to discuss proposals—originally set out in the offer of a new contract on 20th December—for new remuneration supplements to recognise special efforts to maintain or develop-NHS services, particularly in specialties or geographical areas where understaffing has created special difficulties. Preference is already given to understaffed regions in allocating new consultant posts, and 153W I am reviewing the methods of allocating financial resources to regions to make them more responsive to relative need.
For general medical services, statutory responsibility for regulating the distribution of general practitioners rests with the Medical Practices Committee, and there is a system of incentive allowances for under-doctored areas.