§ Mr. Maxtonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the effect on patient care in Scotland of the Greater Glasgow health board's decisions not to replace junior posts as doctors' contracts expire and to offer early retirement to acute sector consultants.
§ Mr. John MacKayI am advised by the health board that it has taken no general decision not to replace junior doctors' posts as contracts expire, but that—in the light of its assessment of priorities against the resources available to it— it is considering various proposals relating to medical staffing, including an early retirement scheme for consultants, in conjunction with the BMA and the area medical committee. In the meantime, the board proposes to review carefully the need for immediate replacement of posts which fall vacant. In every case I expect the board to give full consideration to the implications for services to patients.
§ Mr. Maxtonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether in the light of population trends more recent than those upon which the Scottish Health Services Allocation of Resources in the Eighties formula was based, he is satisfied that the Greater Glasgow health board is not being under-funded.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe Scottish health authorities revenue equalisation formula (SHARE) provides for annual uprating of weighted population figures. The figures used in the calculation of allocations for a given year are an average of(a) the figures for the years three and four years prior to that year (the most recent years for which firm data are available) and (b) the Registrar General's estimates for the immediately preceding year. The weighted population of the Greater Glasgow health board's area has declined steadily since the SHARE formula was introduced. The board was overfunded in SHARE terms when the formula was introduced and remains so.