§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff in respect of whom 70 per cent. of salaries were reimbursed were employed by general practitioners in England and Wales at the most recent convenient date.
§ Dr. MawhinneyAt 1 April 1992 there were 79,092 whole and part-time staff employed by general practitioners in England, whose salary costs were reimbursed in whole or part by family health services authorities (FHSAs). From 1 April 1990 FHSAs have had discretion to vary the level of reimbursement taking account of all relevant factors. Information on practitioners' staff in Wales is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish figures showing the number of general practitioner trainers and the number of general practitioner trainees, together with the cost per annum, for each of the years since 1980.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThe information is shown in the table.
Year Trainers Trainees Grants to trainers Trainee salaries and expenses 1980 1,856 1,353 2,483,956.09 9,917,847.78 1981 2,040 1,561 3,668,541.79 15,338,492.27 1982 2,236 1,577 4,823,773.39 19,313,059.64 1983 2,335 1,624 5,564,119.18 21,286,172.31 1984 2,370 1,703 5,694,568.18 23,767,572.27 1985 2,451 1,758 5,886,779.28 26,475,607.37 1986 2,496 1,654 6,242,737.30 28,517,366.98 1987 2,527 1,710 6,356,385.12 30,669,887.79 1988 2,469 1,685 6,470,457.00 33,358,905.00 1989 2,472 1,735 6,928,037.00 36,449,935.00 1990 2,726 1,562 7,735,844.00 40,457,508.00 1991 2,824 1,639 7,939,576.00 42,264,385.00 1992 2,940 1,613 8,162,085.00 46,083,103.00 Notes:
Financial data relates to the period ending 31 March each year and is taken from summarised accounts.
Data relating to numbers is at 1 October each year and the 1992 figure is provisional.
All data relates to England only.
345W
§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions general practitioners provided maternity services, and what payments were made to them, in respect of(a) complete care, (b) ante-natal care only, (c) confinement only, (d) pre-natal care and (e) miscarriage, in each year since 1980.
§ Dr. MawhinneyInformation on maternity medical services is not available centrally at the level requested. The gross cost of maternity medical services in England since 1980 is shown in the table.
General medical services—maternity medical services fees Maternity medical services (£000s) 1979–80 19,072 1980–81 25,643 1981–82 28,238 1982–83 30,423 1983–84 32,399 1984–85 36,868 1985–86 41,580 1986–87 42,948 1987–88 48,564 1988–89 53,733 1989–90 57,983 1990–91 65,945 1991–92 69,045 Data taken from summarised accounts.
§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many night visits were undertaken by general practitioners; and what expenditure was incurred by such visits in(a) the higher rates and (b) the lower rates for deputising services.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThe cost and estimated number of night visits in each financial year since 1980 is shown in the table.
General medical services—night visit fees Year Night visit payment £ million Night visit fee £ million Number of visits 1979–80 3,812 6.75 564,700 1980–81 6,059 10.50 577,032 1981–82 7,226 11.80 612,399 1982–83 8,278 12.75 649,292 1983–84 9,023 13.24 681,531 1984–85 10,510 14.70 714,941 1985–86 12,402 15.55 797,524 1986–87 12,282 16.10 762,828 1987–88 14,185 17.20 824,732 1988–89 16,922 18.75 902,480 1989–90 18,958 20.25 936,187 1990–91 Higher 49,275 45.00 1,095,003 Lower 6,725 15.00 448,303 1991–92 Higher 52,198 45.00 1,159,956 Lower 8,376 15.00 558,428 1. Data taken from summarised accounts.
2. In 1990 the new GP contract extended the period night visits fees could be claimed for by two hours, consequently the numbers of visits in 1989–90 and 1990–91 are not directly comparable.
§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total expenditure incurred in each of the years 1990, 1991 and 1992 in respect of additional payments made to general practitioners for(a) meeting target 346W figures respectively, for immunisation and cervical smears, (b) health promotion clinics, (c) new patient check-ups, (d) minor surgery, (e) teaching medical students, (f) vaccination and immunisation fees and (g) contraception treatments, giving respectively, annual fees for ordinary and intra-uterine device treatment.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThe information for years 1990–91 and 1991–92 on an accruals basis is shown in the table. The 1992–93 data are not yet available.
Expenditure on selected items All figures taken from the summarised accounts 1990–91 £ million 1991–92 £ million (a) Targets Childhood immunisation Higher 35.602 38.257 Lower 3.636 1.556 Pre-school boosters Higher 11.108 10.916 Lower 1.507 0.860 Cervical cytology Higher 42.423 46.262 Lower 6.543 3.052 (b) Health promotion 44.309 64.024 (c) Registration (new patient checkups) 15.264 19.955 (d) Minor surgery 16.645 21.324 (e) Teaching students 7.940 8.162 (f) Vaccination and immunisation 33.746 24.405 (g) Contraception Ordinary (£12.75)1 37.634 39.923 IUD (£42.75)1 4.461 4.343 1 Annual fees 1990–91 and 1991–92.
§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the average income of a general practitioner in England and Wales for each year since 1980.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThe average net income of general practitioners in Great Britain is listed together with the average gross income of general practitioners in England. Average net income for England and Wales separately is not available. Information on GPs in Wales is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
347W
Information on GP income 1979–80 to 1991–92 Average income (England) including expenses £ Average net income (GB) excluding expenses as reported by DDRB £ 1979–80 19,942 11,902 1980–81 28,306 15,608 1981–82 31,775 17,793 1982–83 35,075 19,940 1983–84 37,092 20,404 1984–85 41,483 22,687 1985–86 44,241 23,849 1986–87 46,221 24,601 1987–88 50,148 26,508 1988–89 55,380 28,979 1989–90 61,266 31,388 1990–91 76,045 137,204 1991–92 187,873 n/a 1 Provisional figures.
§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioner practices are now general practitioner fund holders; and how many individual general practitioners that figure embraces.
§ Dr. MawhinneyAt 31 March 1993 there were over 3,000 general practitioners in 585 GP practices in the GP fund holding scheme. Final figures are not yet available for 1993–94 but provisional figures show more than double this number of GP practices have been offered and have accepted budgets from 1 April 1993.
§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information she has as to the range of surpluses accumulated by general practitioner fund-holding practices during the most convenient recent period.
§ Dr. MawhinneyIn 1991–92 general practitioner fund holders nationally achieved surpluses on their budget of about four per cent. Regional averages ranged from 9.1 per cent. to 1.5 per cent.