§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what formal education in the health and health care of different cultural groups is available to the medical profession; and if she will make a statement. [32345]
§ Mr. MaloneThe General Medical Council is responsible for the standard of undergraduate medical education. Its most recent recommendations, published in "Tomorrow's Doctors" in December 1993, recognise the need for matters concerning ethnicity to be addressed within the undergraduate medical curriculum.
The medical royal colleges are responsible for the content of postgraduate medical training and education.
The body responsible for general practice vocational training—the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice—expects general practitioners to be knowledgeable about the social, cultural and environmental factors which contribute to health and illness. The specific curricular arrangements to achieve these attributes are the responsibility of regional postgraduate organisations. Further training and experience are provided as part of the continuing education of practitioners.