§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to increase the number of specialists in hospitals.
§ Dr. MawhinneyOur policy is to encourage the shift towards a consultant-based service, envisaged in the agreements between the national health service and the medical profession set out in "Achieving a Balance", copies of which are available in the Library. This suggests a minimum consultant expansion rate of 2 per cent. per year. However, it is a matter for each employing body to determine the number of consultants needed in each specialty in the light of local needs and competing priorities. Between 1987 and 1992 the number of medical consultants working in NHS hospitals in England increased by 2,240, a rate of 3 per cent. per year.
Number of persons infected by Leptospirosis disease Regional Health Authority 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 March and June 1993 Northern 2 2 2 1 0 1 3 Yorkshire 2 3 5 3 4 1 1 Trent 3 1 3 1 1 2 1 East Anglian 1 3 1 3 0 2 0 North West Thames 2 2 2 0 2 3 0 North East Thames 1 1 1 0 1 3 0 South East Thames 0 2 3 3 2 1 0 South West Thames 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Wessex 5 2 2 0 1 1 1 Oxford 0 0 3 1 2 2 0 South Western 2 5 2 2 2 4 3 West Midlands 2 5 4 2 0 4 0 Mersey 2 2 3 3 1 0 1 North Western 2 4 0 0 1 3 0