§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures have been put in place to ensure an increase in the number of vocational training places for general practice; how many places have been available in each of the last 10 years; and what estimate he has made of the number of places available in each of the next three years. The Minister of State, Department of Health, [38460]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 28 February 2002]: We do not have data available centrally on the number of vocational training scheme places. Doctors on vocational training schemes represent only a proportion of those training for general practice, as there are other training routes.
All doctors training for a career in general practice must undertake a period training as a General Practice Registrar. We have a target to increase General Practice Registrar numbers by 550 by 2004. To accommodate these increases, we are investing significant resources in the general practice training infrastructure (£9 million over three years) and in developing training practice premises (£30 million over the same period). We also removed, last November, the outdated restrictions that had previously prevented overseas doctors receiving NHS funding when undertaking General Practice Registrar training.
305WRecruitment to General Practice Registrar training is healthy. Numbers have risen, year on year, for the last five years. The attached table shows the figures for the last 10 years. Last year numbers increased by 224 on the previous year, exceeding our target increase of 150. As a result of the measures we have put in place, we expect growth to continue.
GP Registrars in England as at 1 October 1991 to 1999 and 30 September 2000 and 2001 GP Registrars 1991 1,639 1992 1,613 1993 1,529 1994 1,445 1995 1,404 1996 1,305 1997 1,343 1998 1,446 1999 1,520 2000 1,659 2001 1,883 Source:
Department of Health Personal Medical Services Statistics