HC Deb 05 November 2002 vol 392 cc265-6W
Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of doctors per head of population in(a) the United Kingdom and (b) each other European Union country; and if he will make a statement; [76295]

(2) what estimate he has made of the number of (a) doctors and (b) nurses per 1,000 head of population in England; and if he will make a statement. [77798]

Mr. Hutton

[holding answer 29 October 2002]: The information requested is shown in the tables.

The comparative information about the number of doctors in the United Kingdom and the European Union is published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the latest figures are shown in the table. However, these figures need to be interpreted with caution because different countries calculate the figures in different ways. If comparing United Kingdom data with other countries, we consistently appear near the bottom for doctors per 1,000 head of population, but this is mainly because we count only national health service doctors, whereas most other countries figures include all registered doctors, therefore counting, for example, private sector doctors and doctors who are not actually working.

Health employment: practising physicians density per 1,000 population
Countries 2000
Austria 3.1
Belgium 3.9
Denmark n/a
Finland 3.1
France n/a
Germany 3.6
Greece n/a
Ireland n/a
Italy 6
Luxembourg 3.1
Netherlands 3.2
Portugal n/a
Spain 3.3
Sweden n/a
United Kingdom 1.8
All doctors and qualified nursing, midwifery, health visiting staff and practice nurses per 1,000 population, England, at 30 September 2001
Numbers per 1,000 population
All doctors 2.0
of which:
General practitioners1 0.6
HCHS medical and dental staff2 1.4
All qualified nursing3 7.1
of which:
Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 6.7
Practice nurses 0.4
1General medical practitioners includes unrestricted principals, PMS salaried GP's, PMS contracted GP's restricted principals, assistants, GP registrars, salaried doctors (para 52 SFA), PMS and others and GP retainers.
2 Excludes medical hospital practitioners and medical clinical assistants, most of whom are also general practitioners working part-time in hospitals.
3 Figures exclude learners and agency staff.

Source:

Department of Health Medical and Dental Work Force Census.Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.Department of Health Non-medical Work Force Census.Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Note:

Population figures are rounded to one decimal point.

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