§ Mr. Luceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many hospital-based otologists there are; how many of these are students; if they are evenly spread geographically; how many patients they service on average; and if there is a defined upper limit of patients.
§ Mr. MoyleSeparate figures are not available for otologists, but on 30th September 1975 the whole-time equivalent of medical staff holding appointments in the ear, nose and throat specialty in England was 730. 300 of these were consultants and most of the others were in the post-registration training grades. Medical students are not classified according to specialty. The numbers of ear, nose and throat medical staff per 100,000 of the population in the different regions ranged from 1.05 in Trent to 1.77 in 17W South-East Thames, with a national average of 1.57. Excluding tonsils and adenoids cases, there were during 1975, 137,400 in-patient discharges and deaths—about 188 per annum per whole-time equivalent doctor—and 15,000 day cases—about 20 per annum per doctor—in the ear, nose and throat departments in England. Including tonsils and adenoids there were 492,000 new out-patients cases—about 674 per annum per doctor. There is no laid down maximum number of patients per doctor.