---

Dept of Health

Answer

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many consultant microbiologist posts are vacant in the NHS, broken down by region; [144372] (2) how many new consultant microbiologist posts have been created in England in each of the last six years; [144373] (3) how many training posts in microbiology (a) have been filled and (b) were available in each of the last six years. [144374] Mr. Hutton: Vacancy data is collected by the Department of Health as three-month vacancies as at 31 March each year. These are vacancies which trusts are actively trying to fill, which have lasted for three months or more. The table shows the number of three-month microbiology and virology consultant vacancies as at 31 March 2003, by strategic health authority. Consultant three month vacancy rate in medical microbiology and virology for England at March 2003 by strategic health authority-- England _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Strategic health authority name Vacancy rate (percentage) Number of vacancies Staff in post (WTE) England Norfolk, Suffolk and 0.0 0 14 Cambridgeshire Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 1-- 2 8 Essex 11.5 1 8 North West London 0.0 0 13 North Central London 4.9 1 19 North East London 0.0 0 14 South East London 0.0 0 14 South West London 8.0 1 12 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 10.5 2 17 County Durham and Tees Valley 1-- 0 9 North and East Yorkshire and 0.0 0 11 Northern Lincolnshire West Yorkshire 6.0 1 16 Cumbria and Lancashire 0.0 0 14 Greater Manchester 4.9 1 20 Cheshire and Merseyside 0.0 0 18 Thames Valley 0.0 0 17 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 0.0 0 12 Kent and Medway 1-- 1 4 Surrey and Sussex 12.4 2 14 Avon, Gloucestershire and 5.8 1 16 Wiltshire South West Peninsula 0.0 0 13 Dorset and Somerset 1-- 0 7 South Yorkshire 0.0 0 11 Trent 0.0 0 14 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire 1-- 0 8 and Rutland Shropshire and Staffordshire 1-- 0 8 Birmingham and The Black Country 4.3 1 22 Coventry, Warwickshire, 1-- 0 10 Herefordshire and Worcestershire Public Health Laboratory Service 15.1 5 28 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Figures where sum of staff in post and three month vacancy are less then 10. Notes: 1. Staff in post data is from the Medical and Dental Census, March 2003. 2. Staff in post data excludes staff employed by Health Authorities, as vacancy information was only collected from Trusts, PCTs and Special Health Authorities. 3. Vacancy and staff in post numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number. 4. Calculating the vacancy rates using the above data may not equal the actual vacancy rates. The Department does not collect data on the number of newly appointed consultants in microbiology and virology. Workforce data is collected through the annual Department of Health medical workforce census. The census is a snapshot of data as at 30 September in the appropriate year. The information in the table shows the net increase in the number of microbiology and virology consultants since 1997: Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS): Consultants within the medical microbiology and virology specialty--England _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number (headcount) 1997 358 1998 362 1999 370 2000 389 2001 397 2002 431 March 2003 425 June 2003 383 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: Data as at 30 September 1997 to 2002, 31 March 20O3 and 30 June 2003 Source: Department of Health medical and dental workforce census The drop in the number of consultants between March and June 2003 is due to the re-categorisation of consultants to other specialties. Information on the number of training posts filled and available is not collected. The table shows the number of doctors in training in the specialty between September 1997 and September 2002. Numbers increased by 29 per cent. during this period. Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS): Doctors in training within the medical microbiology and virology specialty--England at 30 September each year Number (headcount) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Doctors in training 139 136 142 141 156 179 of which: Registrar Group 125 125 131 121 143 162 Senior House Officer 14 11 11 20 13 17 House Officer -- -- -- -- -- -- _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: `--' denotes zero Source: Department of Health medical and dental workforce census In 2003-03, central funding has been provided to support the implementation of eight additional specialist registrar (SpR) posts in microbiology and virology. Trusts also have the opportunity to locally fund up to 10 SpR training opportunities.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

415 c1125-7W; 144372;144373;144374

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Consultants Doctors Job creation NHS Staff Microbiology Training Vacancies

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk