HC Deb 14 October 2002 vol 390 cc499-500W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire of 9 May 2002,Official Report, column 346W, how many occupational therapists were in post in each health authority at March 2001 per head of population. [56632]

Mr. Hutton

[holding answer 16 May 2002]Between 1997 and 2001 the number of occupational therapists employed in the National Health Service increased by 2,390 or 20 per cent. Further increases in the NHS Plan period and beyond will help to improve the ratio of occupational therapists per head of population. Our latest projections, based on numbers expected to come out of training, and trends in retirements, occupational therapists working outside the NHS and other factors remaining broadly the same, suggest that there will be over 21,000 occupational therapists working in the NHS by 2009.

Workforce information is collected annually as at 30 September. The number of occupational therapists per head of population by health authority as at 30 September 2001 is shown in the table.

Qualified scientific, therapeutic & technical staff employed in the occupational therapy area of work per head of population by strategic health authority area as at 30 September 2001
whole-time equivalents per head of population
England 11,820 0.0002
Q01 Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire 530 0.0002
Q02 Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire 250 0.0002
Q03 Essex 400 0.0002
Q04 North West London 430 0.0002
Q05 North Central London 380 0.0003
Q06 North East London 350 0.0002
Q07 South East London 310 0.0002
Q08 South West London 320 0.0002
Q09 Northumberland, Tyne & Wear 330 0.0002
Q10 County Durham & Tees Valley 230 0.0002

Qualified scientific, therapeutic & technical staff employed in the occupational therapy area of work per head of population by strategic health authority area as at 30 September 2001
Q11 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 310 0.0002
Q12 West Yorkshire 600 0.0003
Q13 Cumbria & Lancashire 450 0.0002
Q14 Greater Manchester 670 0.0003
Q15 Cheshire & Merseyside 510 0.0002
Q16 Thames Valley 470 0.0002
Q17 Hampshire & Isle of Wight 340 0.0002
Q18 Kent & Medway 320 0.0002
Q19 Surrey & Sussex 660 0.0003
Q20 Avon, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire 580 0.0003
Q21 South West Peninsula 430 0.0003
Q22 Dorset & Somerset 350 0.0003
Q23 South Yorkshire 390 0.0003
Q24 Trent 720 0.0003
Q25 Leicestershire Northamptonshire & Rutland 350 0.0002
Q26 Shropshire & Staffordshire 340 0.0002
Q27 Birmingham & The Black Country 490 0.0002
Q28 Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire & Worcestershire 320 0.0002

Notes:

Staff in post figures are rounded to the nearest ten.

Population rates are rounded to one significant figure.

Due to rounding totals may not equal the sum of component parts.

Source:

Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.

Data collected as at 30 September 2001 from NHS organisations has been aggregated to strategic health authority area.