HC Deb 10 December 1993 vol 234 cc390-1W
Mr. Rendel

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of the population of Berkshire is registered at(a) fund-holding and (b) non-fund-holding general practices.

Dr. Mawhinney

This information is not available centrally. Regional health authorities are responsible for managing the general practitioner fund-holding scheme in their areas. Nationally 25 per cent. of the population is covered by GP fund-holders. In Oxford region this is 33 per cent.

Ms Primarolo

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total number of general practitioners, and the total number of secretaries, administrators, receptionists, and practice managers in general practice in each of the last five years.

Dr. Mawhinney

The available information is shown in the tables.

The date relate to England:

Staff type 1 October 1989 1 October 1990 1 October 1991 1 October 1992 1 April 1993
Management and administration n/a 4,595 5,679 6,147 6,147
Secretary/clerical 4,043 30,576 10,495 11,166 11,109
Receptionist 22,535 — 20,824 21,331 20,862
  1. 1. The data relate to whole time equivalent staff in England.
  2. 2. No data for management and administrative staff are available for 1989; the figure for 1990 relates only to practice managers.
  3. 3. The figure for the secretary/clerical category for 1989 relates only to clerical staff; secretaries are included with receptionists. The 1990 figure for secretary/clerical category includes receptionists.
  4. 4. The number of GPs in England has risen steadily since 1979 and now currently stands at an all-time high. The increase in administration staff employed by GPs enables them to delegate much of the day to day business of running a practice. This in turn provides the opportunity for GPs to devote more time to the delivery of clinical care to their patients. While the number of administration staff has increased it should be noted that the number of practice nurses has risen from 888 to 9,120 whole time equivalents an increase of over 900 per cent. between 1 October 1989 and 1 April 1993.

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