§ Sarah TeatherTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctor vacancies there were in(a) North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, (b) Brent Primary Care Trust and (c) each strategic health authority in England in each year since 1997; and what the average figures for strategic health authorities in (i) London and (ii) England were in each year. [172818]
§ Mr. HuttonThe Department's doctor vacancy survey started in 1999. It collects all hospital and community health service three-month vacancies, excluding the house officer, senior house officer and registrar staff groups.
The Department's annual general practitioner (GP) recruitment and retention vacancy survey started in 2000. This is a count of all GP vacancies that have occurred during each year. It will include existing posts that doctors have left and also new posts created to increase the workforce, even where they were filled very quickly.
The average doctor three-month vacancy rate and number for strategic health authorities (SHAs) in London and England since 1999 has been placed in the Library. Data are provided from 2000 for North West London Hospitals National Health Service Trust. Data are not collected for the Brent Primary Care Trust (PCT) area.
1376WThe number of GP vacancies in Brent PCT for the year April 2002 to March 2003, the first year data was collected at PCT level, was 16. The number of GP vacancies for each SHA since 2000 has been placed in the Library.