§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many young doctors left the health service this year; and what were the figures for 1991–92 and 1992–93.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThis information is not available centrally.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospitals now have no junior doctors working more than 72 hours per week; what percentage this is of the 473W total; if she will name the hospitals which have junior doctors working more than 72 hours per week; what plans she has to reduce the maximum weekly hours worked by junior doctors; and what considerations underlay the decision to apply quotas in respect of junior doctors to NHS trust hospitals.
§ Dr. MawhinneyInformation on individual hospitals is not available centrally.
In England, there were 11,205 junior doctors and dentists contracted for more than 72 hours a week at 30 September 1993—43 per cent. of the total. Of these, 7,889 were in hard-pressed posts, a fall of 22 per cent. on the previous six months. Our priority is to eliminate all hard-pressed posts contracted for more than an average of 72 hours a week by the end of 1994. This is in accordance with the timetable in "The New Deal", a copy of which is available in the Library.
Regional task forces monitor and support implementation locally. I announced in March further central funding to support reductions in hours. This will mean that since "The New Deal" was launched in 1991 we have funded an extra 600 consultant and 150 staff grade posts to help reduce hours. Overall we have spent more than £115 million since 1991 to support the new deal. This is a clear indication of our commitment to tackle this problem.
Our medical staffing policy is set out in "Achieving a Balance: Plan for Action, 1987", a copy of which is also available in the Library. Its major objectives are to improve patient care by increasing the amount of care provided by fully trained hospital doctors and to safeguard the career opportunities of junior doctors.
Under "Achieving a Balance", arrangements exist to relate the number of United Kingdom and European Community doctors entering the registrar and senior registrar grades in all national health service hospitals to predicted consultant opportunities while continuing to allow overseas graduates access to the training grade. This aims to minimise the possibility of over or under-provision of training places in each specialty and the concomitant waste of resources. Regional task forces have responsibility for changing the number and distribution of senior house officers where this is needed to achieve new deal hours targets.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health at what level the decision as to the quota of junior doctors allocated to a trust hospital is taken.
§ Dr. MawhinneyAt senior and career registrar levels, the joint planning advisory committee is responsible for advising the national health service executive as to overall targets for all the medical and dental specialties. These targets are then allocated to regions, the special health authorities and Wales. Exact locations of posts within each region are then a matter for local decision, in discussion with postgraduate deans and specialty advisors to ensure the educational appropriateness of training facilities.
Control of senior house officer numbers has been devolved to the regional office task forces, in consultation with regional postgraduate deans.