§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied that the present freezing of senior hospital house officer posts will not have a serious effect upon effective consultant training in certain fields of medicine such as paediatrics.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergYes. Regional health authorities have not been asked to apply a freeze but to hold the total number of Senior House Officer posts on 79W their establishment at their current levels. Within this total they may redistribute existing posts between specialties and geographical areas. There are at present more than sufficient SHO posts in paediatrics to provide the training at that level required to meet anticipated demands for training consultant paediatricians.