§ 44. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Health if he will state the number of qualified psychiatric social workers employed in the United Kingdom, the proportions employed by hospital and local health authorities, respectively, and the number employed in each region in relation to population.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI will, with permission, circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the available information which relates to the numbers employed by hospital authorities in England and Wales. I regret that corresponding figures for local health authorities are not readily available.
§ Mr. SwinglerIs the Minister aware that if the figures which he gave fully last week for the Midland counties are anything to judge by, these figures will show a shockingly inadequate service? Is it the aim of his Ministry to develop a psychiatric social service in the country? Is he aware that at present it does not exist in large areas? If the present legislation is not to be a dead-letter on this subject, what superhuman efforts are being made by his Ministry to train and qualify people for this work?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThere is certainly a need for more psychiatric social workers, and I wholly endorse what the hon. Member has said about the importance of this service. As to the methods about which he asks me, there is a special scheme of training allowances for students, by which we hope to assist recruitment.
§ Following is the information:
| NUMBERS OF QUALIFIED PSYCHIATRIC SOCIAL WORKERS EMPLOYED BY HOSPITAL AUTHORITIES | ||||
| Region | Number of Qualified Psychiatric Social Workers | Estimated population (mid-1957) | ||
| Full-time | Part-time | |||
| Newcastle | … | 4 | 1 | 2,956,000 |
| Leeds | … | 5 | — | 3,069,000 |
| Sheffield | … | 1 | — | 4,261,000 |
| East Anglia | … | 7 | 1 | 1,496,000 |
| N.W. Metropolitan | … | 50 | 12 | 3,975,000 |
| N.E. Metropolitan | … | 18* | 2 | 3,123,000 |
| S.E. Metropolitan | … | 42* | 11* | 3,241,000 |
| S.W. Metropolitan | … | 38 | 3 | 4,744,000 |
| Oxford | … | 7 | 3 | 1,522,000 |
| Southwestern | … | 7 | 3 | 2,805,000 |
| Wales | … | 7 | — | 2,611,000 |
| Birmingham | … | 11 | 5 | 4,578,000 |
| Manchester | … | 9 | 3 | 4,385,000 |
| Liverpool | … | 9 | 2 | 2,141,000 |
§ Note.*These figures include some unqualified workers.