§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his plans to improve the recruitment and retention of general practitioners in the NHS in Stoke-on-Trent, North. [8872]
§ Mr. MilburnWe are aware that in some areas recruitment and retention difficulties are occurring and are talking to the profession about ways in which some of the difficulties might be overcome.
§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners are trained to deal with people with learning difficulties. [8876]
297W
§ Mr. MilburnAll general practitioners practising as principals have had to undergo vocational training. During this period of vocational training the general practitioner will be exposed to the variety of patients who present in Primary Care. As most people with learning difficulties are living at home, they will be included in this training. EL(96)109 stated that the Government intends to take steps to improve the vocational training scheme for GPs to allow those starting constructed schemes after 1997 to spend a greater proportion of training time in general practice from April 1998. This will result in greater exposure to such patients.
§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners were working in the NHS for each of the last five years in Stoke-on-Trent, North. [8873]
§ Mr. MilburnThe available information is shown in the table.
Number of General Practitioners in Staffordshire FHSA 1992 1993 1994 1995 11996 Restricted principals 3 3 3 2 0 Unrestricted principals 502 511 515 504 239 Assistants 5 5 6 10 4 Trainees 31 33 22 26 6 All practitioners 541 552 546 542 249 Note: 1 North Staffordshire Health Authority. Source:
General Practitioner Census 1 October.
Data for Stoke-on-Trent is not held centrally.