HC Deb 25 January 1991 vol 184 c350W
Mr. Bermingham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many medical practitioners are directly employed full or part-time by the prison medical service; and how many are contracted in from the national health service.

Mrs. Rumbold

A total of 116 are directly employed full-time and 118 part-time. Fourteen consultant forensic psychiatrists provide a part-time service under contracts with health authorities. A further 212 medical practitioners in a range of specialties undertake regular sessions for the prison medical service. These are in the main NHS consultants but the contracts are with the individual practitioners, not their employing health authority.