asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what efforts are being made to increase the number of psychiatrists at all levels, and the number of psycho-geriatricians currently practising.
Our medical school expansion programme has been designed to improve our supply of doctors overall and this should help recruitment to the shortage specialties. Progress in increasing the number of doctors working in adult psychiatry has been fast: the ratio of one consultant psychiatrist per 50,000 population has already been reached and the target of one per 40,000 should be reached in the early 1980s.At present, psychiatrists working in psycho-geriatrics are not identified separately in statistics. On 30th September 1977, there were 1,045 consultants in adult psychiatry in post in England and Wales.
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many consultant psychiatrists and psycho-geriatricians there are at present in the Yorkshire Region compared to the numbers in those positions in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977.
The number of consultants in the specialty of mental illness—adult—in the Yorkshire region at 30th September for each of the years 1970 to 1977 is set out below. Figures for 1978 are not yet available. Psycho-geriatrics is not identified in the statistics as a separate specialty but a large proportion of these consultants would have responsibility for the treatment of elderly patients.
| YORKSHIRE REGION | ||
| Year | Number | Whole Time Equivalent |
| 1970 | 48 | 41·0 |
| 1971 | 50 | 47·0 |
| 1972 | 51 | 48·0 |
| 1973 | 54 | 49·8 |
| 1974 | 63 | 54·5 |
| 1975 | 65 | 56·5 |
| 1976 | 68 | 58·8 |
| 1977 | 71 | 61·6 |
Notes
(1) Years before 1974 refer to Leeds regional hospital board and the Leeds group of teaching hospitals. These figures are not comparable with those for years after 1974 because of NHS Reorganisation and subsequent boundary changes.
(2) Whole time equivalent figures for 1970 are not comparable with those for later years.