§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make it his policy to establish an even distribution of doctors in hospitals throughout the United Kingdom; if he will encourage greater use of performance indicators to measure work load and output of National Health Service staff; whether he will provide a larger number of doctors for the medical specialties of the elderly, mentally ill and mentally handicapped; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe Department's declared policy devolves to health authorities in England the determination of requirements for numbers of doctors for service plans, within available resources and staffing structure agreements. Gradual reduction of geographical disparities in England of the distribution of doctors is expected to continue.
The use of performance indicators, which contain staffing, work load, and output data, to appraise service performance, is already encouraged.
The numbers of doctors training in geriatrics, mental illness, and mental handicap have already been increased and are now sufficient to sustain expansion in these specialties, in accordance with declared national priorities.