§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if the projected increase of 150 additional respiratory consultants by 2004 includes persons already in the process of specialising. [28809]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 21 January 2002]: Current supply projections show that there will be an increase of around 150 trained specialists in respiratory medicine available to take up consultant posts in the specialty by 2004. The projections include specialist registrars currently in training in the specialty of 967W respiratory medicine and take account of the long term effect of measures to increase consultant recruitment and deliver the NHS Plan target of 7,500 more consultants by 2004.