§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what special efforts are being made within the National Health Service to recruit anaesthetists; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MoyleThere has been a continuous rise in the number of consultant anaesthetists in the National Health Service, although this has not kept up with a rapid increase in demand for the specialty. To help meet this demand, I have approved 50 additional senior registrar posts and 142 additional registrar posts since September 1974. My Department is encouraging health authorities to expand training schemes which attract good quality applicants, and has drawn the attention of all regions to particularly successful schemes. For the longer term, we have commisisoned a research project on the factors affecting doctors' choice of career to discover whether there is some way to encourage more doctors to enter shortage specialties. Finally, our medical school expansion programme, to which we have given high priority, should provide more doctors overall to meet the needs of all specialties.
§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many vacancies for anaesthetists currently exist in the Trent regional hospital area; and how this figure compares with other regions in England and Wales.
§ Mr. MoyleI refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, North-East (Mr. Park) on 22nd February.—[Vol. 944, c.724–6]