§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received from(a) hospitals and (b) general practice about difficulties in recruiting doctors; and if she will make a statement. [24721]
§ Mr. MaloneWe have received some representations from NHS trusts. However, this may be due to factors such as the geographical location or proposed duties of the posts. The number of NHS consultants continues to rise steadily, with average annual increases over the five years to 1993 well in excess of the Government's 2 per cent. target.
The specialist workforce advisory group, SWAG, recognises the need to have better information about recruitment difficulties in relation to hospital doctors. SWAG has recently conducted a survey on this issue in a small sample of trusts. Most of the responses have now
1993–94 1992–93 1991–92 1990–91 1989–90 1988–89 Acute surgical 1,312,775 1,287,166 1,213,773 1,246,919 1,258,519 1,234,125 Acute medical (not Paediatrics) 1,370,415 1,258,608 1,182,521 1,167,393 1,158,073 1,114,957 Paediatrics 464,118 429,110 433,369 406,353 400,576 384,851 A and E speciality 85,510 82,225 81,656 82,901 84,046 82,132 Other emergency 600,680 583,786 545,991 548,859 521,520 486,005 Source:
Hospital Episode Statistics.