§ Dr. McDonaldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many audiometricians are currently working on tests in the National Health Service;
(2) how many tests each audiometrician in the National Health Service can carry out per annum;
(3) if he has increased, or intends to increase, the numbers of audiometricians employed by the National Health Service to overcome the obstacles described in the report of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council of 1978;
(4) if he will estimate the cost of (a) training and (b) employing an audiometrician per annum in the National Health Service.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergFollowing is the number of audiology technicians, sometimes known as audiometricians, employed in the National Health Service to the latest available date:
At 30 September Whole-time equivalents 1978 623.1 1979 630.1 1980 729.7 1981 762.8 Details of the cost of training and employing are not held centrally.
Details of the number of tests carried out are not available centrally, but the average number of patients seen per technician employed was 879.6 in 1980, the latest year for which such information is available.
The provision of services is the responsibility of individual health authorities to determine in the light of their assessment of local circumstances and of problems encountered locally.