§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on staffing levels in the genito-urinary medicine department at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. [187435]
§ Angela SmithIn recognition of the future need in genito-urinary medicine specialist registrars have been recruited in each of the last three years.
A report on "Sexually Transmitted Infections and Genito-urinary Medicine Services", produced by a subgroup of the Regional Advisory Committee on Communicable Disease Control, recommended a complement of five consultants against the current complement of 3.2 whole-time equivalent. The number presently in training stands at four, which is considered sufficient to meet that projected need.