HC Deb 16 June 1988 vol 135 cc298-303W
Mr. Robin Cook

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the annual average salary of a qualified medical secretary;

(2) if he will give, for each regional health authority, district health authority and special health authority (a) the number of funded establishments for qualified medical secretaries and (b) the number of qualified medical secretaries in post;

(3) if he will give the average annual salary of a trained medical secretary.

Mr. Newton

[holding answers 6 May 1988 and 9 May 1988]Medical secretaries are employed in the NHS on various grades with basic pay scales ranging from £4,733 to £8,990 per annum for an adult according to their individual responsibilities. In addition, allowances up to £635 per annum may be payable for tested proficiency in typing, shorthand and audio skills. London weighting allowances of £1,201 per annum within the inner zone and £718 per annum in the outer zone are also payable as appropriate.

Payroll information identifying medical secretaries is not centrally available for all parts of the NHS. Based on information from eight regions and six special health authorities in the period April to December 1987, the average gross salary was estimated to be £6,620 per annum inclusive of proficiency allowances but excluding London weighting. There is no central classification or payroll identification of a trained or qualified medical secretary.

The table shows the number of medical secretaries in post in each regional, district and post-graduate special health authority at September 1986. Figures for funded establishments are not held centrally.

National Health Service Medical Secretaries at September 1986
Regional Health Authority and District Health Authority Whole-time equivalent1
Northern 0
Hartlepool 13
North Tees 41
South Tees 75
East Cumbria 45
South Cumbria 31
West Cumbria 25
Darlington 30
Durham 35
North West Durham 5
South West Durham 22
Northumberland 42
Gateshead 36
Newcastle-upon-Tyne (T) 126
North Tyneside 32
South Tyneside 27
Sunderland 12
RHA Total 596
Yorkshire 0
Hull 33
East Yorkshire 28
Grimsby 38
Scunthorpe 45
Northallerton 13
York 35
Scarborough 21
Harrogate 25
Bradford 68
Airedale 38
Calderdale 26
Huddersfield 30
Dewsbury 31
Leeds Western (T) 87
Leeds Eastern (T) 91
Wakefield 44
Pontefract 25
RHA Total 678
Trent
North Derbyshire 35
South Derbyshire 59
Leicestershire (T) 108

Regional Health Authority and District Health Authority amd district Health Authority Whole-time equivalent1
North Lincolnshire 68
South Lincolnshire 58
Bassetlaw 16
Central Nottinghamshire 44
Nottingham (T) 174
Barnsley 31
Doncaster 62
Rotherham 40
Sheffield (T) 148
RHA Total 841
East Anglian
Cambridge (T) 59
Peterborough 46
West Suffolk 31
East Suffolk 62
Norwich 84
Great Yarmouth and Waveney 38
West Norfolk and 36
Wisbech
Huntingdon 20
RHA Total 377
North West Thames
North Bedfordshire 38
South Bedfordshire 37
North Hertfordshire 25
East Hertfordshire 17
North West Hertfordshire 36
South West Hertfordshire 30
Barnet 48
Harrow 33
Hillingdon 65
Hounslow & Spelthorne 46
Ealing 31
Brent 30
Paddington & North 26
Kensington (T)
Riverside 116
RHA Total 576
North East Thames
Basildon & Thurrock 31
Mid Essex 30
North East Essex 63
West Essex 1
Southend 37
Barking/Havering/Brent-wood 76
Hampstead (T) 49
Bloomsbury (T) 94
Islington 31
City & Hackney (T) 58
Newham 20
Tower Hamlets (T) 83
Enfield 30
Haringey 41
Redbridge 25
Waltham Forest 39
RHA Total 708
South East Thames 0
Brighton 40
Eastbourne 21
Hastings 14
South East Kent 46
Canterbury and Thanet 68
Dartford and Gravesham 40
Maidstone 25
Medway 52
Tunbridge Wells 56

Regional Health Authority and District Health Authority and District Health Authority Whole-lime equivalent1
Bexley 2
Greenwich 27
Bromley 60
West Lambeth (T) 46
Camberwell (T) 40
Lewisham and North 71
Southwark (T)
RHA Total 607
South West Thames 0
North West Surrey 43
West Surrey and North 36
East Hants
South West Surrey 30
Mid-Surrey 32
East Surrey 32
Chichester 30
Mid-downs 49
Worthing 41
Croydon 38
Kingston and Esher 32
Richmond, Twickenham 33
and Roehampton
Wandsworth (T) 98
Merton and Sutton 55
RHA Total 549
Wessex 0
East Dorset 54
West Dorset 10
Portsmouth and South East Hampshire 7
Southampton and South West Hampshire (T) 61
Winchester 29
Basingstoke and North Hampshire 10
Salisbury 36
Swindon 50
Bath 33
Isle of Wight 25
RHA Total 313
Oxford 1
East Berkshire 38
West Berkshire 41
Aylesbury Vale 34
Wycombe 38
Milton Keynes 27
Kettering 51
Northampton 66
Oxfordshire (T) 109
RHA Total 405
South Western 0
Bristol and Weston (T) 88
Frenchay 10
Southmead 33
Cornwall and Isles of 69
Scilly
Exeter 50
North Devon 26
Plymouth 83
Torbay 33
Cheltenham 43
Gloucester 44
Somerset 89
RHA Total 567
West Midlands 0
Bromsgrove and Redditch 31

Regional Health Authority and District Health Authority and District Health Authority Whole-time equivalent1
Herefordshire 33
Kidderminster and 21
District
Worcester and District 27
Shropshire 48
Mid-Staffordshire 37
North Staffordshire 99
South East Staffordshire 15
Rugby 17
North Warwickshire 24
South Warwickshire 40
Central Birmingham (T) 147
East Birmingham 64
North Birmingham 29
South Birmingham 75
West Birmingham 64
Coventry 70
Dudley 74
Sandwell 49
Solihull 30
Walsall 21
Wolverhampton 41
RHA Total 1,055
Mersey 0
Chester 32
Crewe 34
Halton 16
Macclesfield 29
Warrington 27
Liverpool (T) 151
St. Helens with Knowsley 38
Sefton North 16
Sefton South 41
Wirral 56
RHA Total 439
North Western 0
Lancaster 28
Blackpool Wyre and 51
Fylde
Preston 47
Blackburn, Hyndburn and 44
Ribble Valley
Burnley, Pendle 49
Rossendale
West Lancashire 17
Chorley and South Ribble 23
Bolton 11
Bury 32
North Manchester 75
Central Manchester (T) 67
South Manchester (T) 52
Oldham 39
Rochdale 46
Salford (T) 80
Stockport 41
Tameside and Glossop 43
Trafford 36
Wigan 44
RHA Total 826

London Postgraduate Special Health Authorities
Authority Whole-time equivalent1
Hospitals for sick children 33
National hospital for nervous diseases 15
Moorfields eye hospital 23
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley hospitals 49
National heart and chest hospitals 54
The Royal Marsden hospital 36

Authority Whole-time equivalent1
Hammersmith hospital and Queen Charlotte's hospital 51
The Eastman dental hospital 5
Total 264
England total for all authorities 8,801

Source: DHSS(SR7) Annual Census of NHS Non-Medical Manpower.

1 All figures are independently rounded to the nearest whole time equivalent.