§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the rôle of immigrant doctors in the Health Service.
§ Mr. MoyleAlmost since the foundation of the NHS we have been heavily dependent on doctors from overseas to staff the Hospital Service. We owe a great debt to these doctors but we recognise that many of them are desperately needed in their own country. We are thus committed to reducing our dependence on overseas doctors by expanding of our own medical schools from under 2,000 places in 1960 to over 4,000 in the early 1980s.
§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State fgor Social Services how many immigrant doctors in hospitals are either surgeons or consultants.
§ Mr. MoyleOn 30th September 1976 there were 1,753 consultants in the Hospital Service in England and Wales born 721W outside the United Kingdom or Ireland. Of these, 328 were in the surgical specialties.