To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-541 by Susan Deacon on 27 July 1999, to specify the number and percentage of the total number of (a) hospital consultants; (b) junior doctors working in hospitals, and (c) general practitioners who have resigned or retired early on the grounds of ill health in each health board area in Scotland in the latest period for which figures are available and in each of the previous three years.

The Information and Statistics Division of the NHS in Scotland (ISD) collects data on reasons for leaving the medical profession. However, although their data categories do include ill health as a reason for leaving, there may be difficulties with the data as individuals may choose not to record the reasons for their departure from the service.