§ Miss. Wrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many unfilled consultants' posts there are in the National Health Service in the West Midlands region; how many of these are in the specialties of anaesthetics, geriatrics and mental subnormality; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. VaughanAt 30 September 1979 there were 57 vacant consultant posts in West Midlands RHA. Of these, 11 were in anaesthetics, one in geriatric medicine and one in mental handicap.
The medical school expansion programme is aimed at improving the supply of doctors overall, and this should help recruitment both to shortage specialties and to the less well-staffed regions. In addition the Department has been encouraging all regions to create additional training posts in certain specialties, including anaesthetics, geriatric medicine and mental handicap, so as to increase the numbers of consultants in these specialties.