Mr. Bernard Gloster:

To be fair to occupational therapists, the problem is not with them. The problem is that we have expanded our development a great deal in recent years, including with the enhanced community care we discussed here in June. I do not know of any part of the health or social care service that does not now want to operate on a multidisciplinary team basis. That means that every team, every discipline and every service wants an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist and a speech and language therapist, and rightly so. The options are great. Our greatest deficit in the therapy profile at the moment is not actually in primary care, community care or hospitals. Even though those areas are under pressure, our greatest deficit is in disability services. Our community disability network teams are running with an average staffing shortfall of 34%. That is where the therapies are most pressed. There is a big demand for occupational therapists and the supply does not match that demand. That is really it.