§ 41. Mr. Sorensenasked the Minister of Health, in view of the great disparity in the ratio of nurses to patients as between many hospitals in the Metropolitan area, what has been done either as a temporary or a permanent measure so as to adjust the position as to ease the strain in those hospitals where gross understaffing exists.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodI hope that one result of the reviews of hospital staffs that I have recently asked hospital authorities to undertake will be an improvement in the distribution of nursing staff amongst hospitals generally. Understaffed sanatoria in the home counties are being helped by the secondment of student nurses from the London teaching hospitals for part of their training, and I hope to see a wider extension of this practice.
§ Mr. SorensenWhilst I appreciate that reply, may I ask whether the Minister is not aware that in some of the older teaching hospitals in London the number of patients per nurse is very much smaller than in many other hospitals round London? In view of the fact that the latter are frequently under-staffed, could he not expedite the re-distribution of the nurses available?
§ Mr. MacleodAs a general rule in the teaching hospitals the ratio is very much higher. I have no power of directing staffs between hospitals, but it is one 556 of the objectives of the recent manpower policy that I have instituted to get a better distribution throughout the service.