§ Miss Wrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many unfilled consultants' posts there are in the National Health Service in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Birmingham; how many of these are in the specialties of anaesthetics, geriatrics and mental subnormality; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergAt 30 September l981, the most recent date for which information is available centrally, the numbers of consultant posts without a permanent holder in the West Midlands region were: 151 in all medical and dental specialties, 15 in anaesthetics, 10 in geriatric medicine, and four in mental handicap; in the then Birmingham area health authority the corresponding figures were 15 (in all specialties), 1 (in anaesthetics), 2 (in geriatric medicine) and 1 (in mental handicap).