§ Dr. Evan HarrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the vacancy rate was for consultants working in coronary care in the NHS in(a) England, (b) each NHS region and (c) each NHS trust in each of the last six years. [106599]
§ Mr. HuttonThe three specialties involved in coronary care are cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery and paediatric cardiology.
The Department has only collected vacancy data since 1999, and not always to the same level of detail appearing in the last survey in 2002. The 1999 and 2000, data include only specialty groups and not individual specialties. Before the 2002 survey, paediatric cardiology was included within the paediatric group and was not separately identified.
2002 vacancy data has been presented within strategic health authority areas as opposed to NHS regions.
Available vacancy rate data have been placed in the Library.