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5 Nov 2002 : Column 265W—continued

Number of Doctors and Nurses

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of doctors per head of population in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) each other European Union country; and if he will make a statement; [76295]

(2) what estimate he has made of the number of (a) doctors and (b) nurses per 1,000 head of population in England; and if he will make a statement. [77798]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 29 October 2002]: The information requested is shown in the tables.

The comparative information about the number of doctors in the United Kingdom and the European Union is published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the latest figures are shown in the table. However, these figures need to be interpreted with caution because different countries calculate the figures in different ways. If

5 Nov 2002 : Column 266W

comparing United Kingdom data with other countries, we consistently appear near the bottom for doctors per 1,000 head of population, but this is mainly because we count only national health service doctors, whereas most other countries figures include all registered doctors, therefore counting, for example, private sector doctors and doctors who are not actually working.

Health employment: practising physicians density per 1,000 population

Countries	2000
Austria	3.1
Belgium	3.9
Denmark	n/a
Finland	3.1
France	n/a
Germany	3.6
Greece	n/a
Ireland	n/a
Italy	6
Luxembourg	3.1
Netherlands	3.2
Portugal	n/a
Spain	3.3
Sweden	n/a
United Kingdom	1.8

All doctors and qualified nursing, midwifery, health visiting staff and practice nurses per 1,000 population, England, at 30 September 2001

	Numbers per 1,000 population
All doctors	2.0
of which:
General practitioners(26)	0.6
HCHS medical and dental staff(27)	1.4
All qualified nursing(28)	7.1
of which:
Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff	6.7
Practice nurses	0.4

⁽²⁶⁾ General medical practitioners includes unrestricted principals, PMS salaried GP's, PMS contracted GP's restricted principals, assistants, GP registrars, salaried doctors (para 52 SFA), PMS and others and GP retainers.

⁽²⁷⁾ Excludes medical hospital practitioners and medical clinical assistants, most of whom are also general practitioners working part-time in hospitals.

⁽²⁸⁾ Figures exclude learners and agency staff.

Source:

Department of Health Medical and Dental Work Force Census.Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.Department of Health Non-medical Work Force Census.Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Note:

Population figures are rounded to one decimal point.

Pilot Schemes

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason the Health Authorities Preparation of Proposals for Pilot Schemes (Personal Medical Services) (Amendment) Directions 2002 were laid before the House on 21 October. [78072]

Mr. Hutton: The Health Authorities Preparation of Proposals for Pilot Schemes (Personal Medical Services) (Amendment) Directions 2002 were not laid before the House on 21 October.

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Psychiatrists

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many CAMHS psychiatrists were employed in each strategic health authority in each of the past five years. [78020]

Mr. Hutton: The number of child and adolescent psychiatrists is shown in the following table. The number of consultants in the specialty has increased by 9 per cent., between September 1997 and March 2002.

Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS): Medical and dental staff within Child and Adolescent Psychiatry by Strategic Health Authority⁽²⁹⁾—England⁽³⁰⁾

		Numbers (headcount)
	1998		1999
	All staff	Consultant	All staff	Consultant
England	770	460	800	490
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	40	30	40	30
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	20	10	20	10
Birmingham and The Black Country	50	20	40	20
Cheshire and Merseyside	40	30	40	30
Country Durham and Tees Valley	10	10	20	10
Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire	10	10	10	10
Cumbria and Lancashire	20	10	20	10
Dorset and Somerset	10	10	10	10
Essex	20	10	20	10
Greater Manchester	60	30	50	30
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	30	20	30	20
Kent and Medway	10	10	20	10
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	30	20	30	20
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	40	20	50	30
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	10	10	10	10
North Central London	50	30	50	30
North East London	30	20	30	20
North West London	50	30	40	30
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	20	20	30	20
South East London	40	20	40	30
Shropshire and Staffordshire	20	10	20	10
South East London	40	20	40	30
LondonSouth West London	20	10	30	10
South West Peninsula	10	10	10	10
South Yorkshire	20	10	10	10
Surrey and Sussex	30	20	30	20
Thames Valley	50	20	50	20
Trent	30	20	40	20
West Yorkshire	30	20	30	10

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	2000		2001		March 2002(31)
	All staff	Consultant	All staff	Consultant	All staff	Consultant
England	830	480	820	490	—	480
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	40	20	40	20	—	20
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	20	10	20	10	—	10
Birmingham and The Black Country	40	20	40	20	—	20
Cheshire and Merseyside	40	30	40	20	—	20
Country Durham and Tees Valley	20	10	20	20	—	20
Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire	10	10	10	10	—	10
Cumbria and Lancashire	20	10	20	10	—	10
Dorset and Somerset	10	10	20	10	—	10
Essex	10	10	10	10	—	*
Greater Manchester	50	20	50	20	—	20
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	40	20	60	30	—	20
Kent and Medway	20	10	10	10	—	10
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	20	10	20	10	—	10
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	50	30	60	30	—	30
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	10	10	10	10	—	10
North Central London	40	30	40	30	—	30
North East London	20	20	40	20	—	20
North West London	60	30	60	30	—	30
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	30	20	20	20	—	20
Shropshire and Staffordshire	10	10	10	10	—	10
South East London	40	30	40	30	—	30
South West London	20	10	20	20	—	20
South West Peninsula	10	10	10	*	—	*
South Yorkshire	30	10	20	10	—	10
Surrey and Sussex	40	20	40	30	—	30
Thames Valley	60	30	60	30	—	30
Trent	40	30	40	30	—	30
West Yorkshire	40	20	30	20	—	20

⁽²⁹⁾ Staff holding appointments in more than one StHA are included separately in each StHA. The sum of StHA totals therefore differs slightly from the England total and a direct comparison is not advised.

⁽³⁰⁾ Data are at 31 March 2002 and 30 September in previous years.

⁽³¹⁾ March 2002 data were a mini census which counted consultants only.

Notes:

'—' denotes not available

'*' denotes five or less than five

Source:

Department of health medical and dental workforce census.

5 Nov 2002 : Column 269W

Public Health Laboratory Service

Mr Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans there are to maintain standards in the public health laboratories after their privatisation. [78740]

Ms Blears: All the laboratories of the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) are Clinical Pathology Accreditation UK Ltd, accredited. It is envisaged that those PHLS laboratories that will transfer to the National Health Service in the coming months will maintain this accreditation. There is no plan to privatise PHLS laboratories.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many public health laboratories will be privatised. [78742]

Ms Blears: None of the laboratories will be privatised. From 1 April 2003, approximately 35 will transfer from the Public Health Laboratory Service to the management of National Health Service trusts. The remainder, approximately ten, will transfer to the Health Protection Agency when it is established.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what co-ordination there will be between public health laboratories; and who will be responsible for checks on them after they are privatised. [78744]

Ms Blears: None of the laboratories will be privatised. The Health Protection Agency will be responsible for monitoring the specialist services across the National Health Service laboratories transferring from the Public Health Laboratory Service, as well as their own laboratories. NHS trusts will be responsible for the routine microbiology services in their own trusts. They will be subject to the same performance monitoring as well by primary care trusts. External accreditation programmes will also remain in place. In time, the laboratories will form part of local pathology managed clinical networks. It is hoped that, until then, informal links will be maintained and strengthened between individual laboratories.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many posts will be lost as a result of changes to the Public Health Laboratory Service. [78786]

Ms Blears: Under the change management protocol which has been agreed with the current employers and the unions concerned, all staff transferring to the Health Protection Agency on its establishment or to a National Health Service trust will have guaranteed continuity of employment until April 2004.

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Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the terms and conditions of employment of staff transferred to the proposed Health Protection Agency will be rationalised so that common terms and conditions apply to all staff, regardless of whether they came from the National Radiological Protection Board or the Public Health Laboratory Service; [78789]

(2) which aspects of health protection are proposed to be dealt with by the proposed Health Protection Agency; and which posts with the Public Health Laboratory Service are to be transferred to the HPA; [78790]

(3) what evaluation has been made of the case for abolition of the Public Health Laboratory Service. [78791]

Ms Blears: XHealth Protection: A Consultation Document on creating a health protection agency", published in June 2002, proposed that the agency would take on responsibilities in relation to the control and prevention of infectious disease, including most of the functions of the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), radiological protection, protection against chemical and poisonous hazards and health emergency planning. All PHLS staff would transfer to the agency, other than those in the laboratories which will transfer to the national health service by 31 March 2003, under separate decisions announced on 3 September. We are currently considering responses to the consultation document and will announce our decisions as soon as possible.

The consultation document also proposed that staff would transfer on their existing terms and conditions of service. Future changes would be a matter for the board of the proposed agency to agree with the recognised trades unions.

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