§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the number of general practitioners in the national health service in England and Wales in each of the last four years.[11868]
§ Mr. HuttonThe number of general practitioners in the national health service in England in each of the last four years is shown in the table. Information relating to Wales is a matter for the devolved Administration.
General medical practitioners in England as at 1 October 1997 to 1999 and 30 September 2000 Headcount 1997 1998 1999 2000 All practitioners (excluding GP retainers)1
29,389 29,697 29,987 30,252 of which: Unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs)2 27,099 27,392 27,591 27.704 1 All practitioners (excluding GP retainers) includes UPEs, restricted principals, assistants, GP registrars, salaried doctors (para. 52 SFA) and PMS other. GP retainers were not collected until 1999. In 1999 there were 972 GP retainers; in 2000 there were 1,117. 2 Unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs) includes GMS unrestricted principals, PMS contracted GPs and PMS salaried GPs. Source:
Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.
§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the definition of excessive as applied to GP list sizes; what measures he plans to take to ensure that areas which experience sudden population growth have sufficient numbers of medical practitioners; and what measures he will encourage the National Clinical Assessment Authority to take against doctors with excessive list sizes.[12767]
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§ Mr. HuttonFrom 2002 health authorities will be responsible for determining how many general practitioners are needed in their areas. List size and population change are among the factors they will consider. The National Clinical Assessment Authority's role is to assess the clinical performance of a GP if a health authority raises concern.
§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the number of general practitioner vacancies in each(a) health authority and (b) primary care trust in the last two years.[12775]
§ Mr. HuttonThe number of general practitioner vacancies reported by health authorities in the Department's annual general practitioner recruitment retention and vacancy surveys for 1999–2000 and 2000–01 are shown in the table. Information on vacancies in primary care trusts is not held centrally.
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Health Authority1 2000 2001 Avon 33 67 Barking and Havering 2 1 Barnet Enfield & Haringey HA 17 40 Barnsley 8 10 Bedfordshire 19 20 Berkshire 19 29 Bexley, Bromley & Greenwich HA 5 29 Birmingham 7 65 Bradford 17 37 Brent & Harrow 8 29 Buckinghamshire 2— 38 Bury & Rochdale Health Authority 7 12 Calderdale & Kirklees 12 26 Cambridgeshire 1 6 Camden & Islington 1 15 Co. Durham & Darlington 2— 26 Cornwall & Isles of Scilly 0 22 Coventry 4 17 Croydon 8 25 Doncaster 12 26 Dorset 25 38 Dudley 12 9 East London & City 31 38 Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 4 2 East Kent 13 29 East Lancashire 6 28 East Riding and Hull 7 23 East Surrey 12 10 East Sussex, Brighton & Hove 2— 2— Gateshead and South Tyneside 10 8 Gloucestershire 17 28 Herefordshire 6 10 Hertfordshire 3 60 Hillingdon 5 19 IoW, Portsmouth & SE Hampshire 16 18 Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster 11 17 Kingston & Richmond 8 17 Lambeth Southwark & Lewisham 33 72 Leeds 19 55 Leicester 15 48 Lincolnshire 19 46 Liverpool 19 16 Manchester 10 24 Merton, Sutton & Wandsworth 2— 2— Morecambe Bay 4 7 Newcastle & North Tyneside 23 26 Norfolk 21 53 North and East Devon 14 19 North Cheshire 10 16 North and Mid Hampshire 9 18
Health Authority1 2000 2001 North Cumbria 8 19 North Derbyshire 11 16 North Essex 7 17 North Nottinghamshire 24 27 North Staffordshire 12 30 North West Lancashire 3 26 North Yorkshire 2— 33 Northamptonshire 18 31 Northumberland 8 18 Nottingham 13 29 Oxfordshire 24 62 Redbridge and Waltham Forest 16 21 Rotherham 7 7 Salford & Trafford 11 26 Sandwell 6 16 Sefton 6 17 Sheffield 13 33 Shropshire 4 16 Solihull 10 11 Somerset 4 28 South & West Devon 20 7 South Cheshire 19 27 South Essex 31 34 South Humber 15 22 South Lancashire 9 13 South Staffordshire 15 23 Southampton and SW Hampshire 17 18 Southern Derbyshire 2— 27 St. Helens & Knowsley 10 22 Stockport 10 11 Suffolk 10 17 Sunderland 13 22 Tees 34 43 Wakefield 20 29 Walsall 6 10 Warwickshire 14 25 West Kent 31 60 West Surrey 23 35 West Sussex 31 45 Wigan & Bolton 17 19 Wiltshire 17 22 Wirral 9 13 Wolverhampton 4 5 Worcestershire 1 4 1 This table reflects the health authorities as at April 2001. 2Not provided
§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of general practitioners due to retire in each of the next five years.[12774]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department does not collect information about retirement intentions of general practitioners. All unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs) have to retire as a principal by the age of 70. Around 480 UPEs will reach 70 by 2006.