§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assumptions his Department has made about the level of take-up of the consultant contract. [151569]
§ Mr. HuttonWe estimate around 70 to 80 per cent., of consultants are likely to take up the contract this year.
§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria his Department used to decide on the(a) location and (b) number of training places for consultants in grown-up congenital heart abnormality. [152166]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department makes decisions about the allocation of consultant training places or national training numbers (NTNs) each year. This includes decisions about NTNs in cardiology, which includes adult congenital heart disease.
The decisions are based on intelligence collated from local and national bodies on workforce needs and are a balance of the needs of all medical specialties. The number of NTNs allocated to cardiology is made in consultation with the National Clinical Director for heart disease.
New training places in cardiology are distributed to sites that have available training capacity and where possible are distributed nationally to areas which are most under-resourced.