§ Mr. Hunterasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many consultant rheumatologists are employed by each health authority in England; and how many vacant posts there were at the latest available date.
§ Mr. John PattenConsultants are employed directly only by regional health authorities and by those district health authorities designated as teaching authorities. Although their services will normally be made available to other DHAs, no information on this is held centrally. The table gives the number of consultant rheumatologists 663W employed on 30 September 1982 within each region, and by each employing authority, in England. At the same date there were 14 posts without a permanent holder.
664W
Hospital medical consultants in the specialty of rheumatology in England Employing authority Staff in post* Total number of consultants' in post 212 Total number of consultants' contracts shown below 255 Northern RHA 12 Newcastle 3 Northern region 15 Yorkshire RHA 6 Leeds Western 5 Leeds Eastern — Yorkshire region 11 Trent RHA 9 Leicestershire 4 Nottingham 2 Sheffield 3 Trent region 18 East Anglian RHA 9 Cambridge 4 East Anglian region 13 North West Thames RHA 19 Paddington and North Kensington 3 Hammersmith and Fulham 2 Victoria 4 North West Thames region 28 North East Thames RHA 22 Hampstead 3 Bloornsbury 9 City and Hackney 4 Tower Hamlets 4 North East Thames region 42 South East Thames RHA 16 West Lambeth 2 Camberwell 3 Lewisham and North Southwark 3 South East Thames region 24 South West Thames RHA 15 Wands worth — South West Thames region 15 Wessex RHA 18 Southampton and South West Hants 3 Wessex region 21 Oxford RHA 10 Oxfordshire 5 Oxford region 15 South Western RHA 7 Bristol and Western 1 South Western region 8
Employing authority Staff in post* West Midlands RHA 7 Central Birmingham 1 West Midlands region 8 Mersey RHA 3 Liverpool Central 2 Mersey region 5 North Western RHA 16 Central Manchester 5 South Manchester 3 Salford 3 North Western region 27 London postgraduate teaching hospitals 5 * Some consultants hold contracts with more than one health authority.