§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total number of(a) medical laboratory scientific officers, (b) pharmacists and (c) medical physicists employed in the National Health Service in each of the last 12 months, distinguishing between trainees and fully qualified staff.
§ Mr. NewtonInformation in the form requested is not held centrally. Such information as is available is shown in the table (the data for 30 September 1986 are the latest available to this level of detail): 625W
Staff in Post (England) 30 September 1986 (Whole-Time Equivalents)1 Medical Laboratory Scientific Officers Pharmacists Medical Physics Technicians Students 23,530 355 114 Qualified 11,094 2,789 2,031 Total 14,624 3,144 2,144 1 Figures are independently rounded to nearest whole-time equivalent. 2 Includes all Junior A MLSOs and Junior B MLSOs. Some may not be in training, but none are qualified staff.
England Wales Scotland 1979–80 1985–86 1979–80 1985–86 1979–80 1985–86 £ £ £ £ £ £ Inpatient case (acute hospitals) 466 718 433 712 535 849 Outpatient attendance 14 26 16 25 n.a. 12 Day Case attendance 36 66 25 56 n.a. 60 Note:
Comparison between the Scotland outpatient and day case figures and those for England and Wales is not valid because outpatient figures for England and Wales include day case and day patient attendances in respect of hospitals with less than 1,000 cases per year.
One of the factors leading to the higher cost per inpatient case in Scotland is that Scotland has a higher proportion of the United Kingdom's teaching hospital places and proportionately more patient care therefore takes place in the relatively more expensive teaching hospital environment.