§ 29. Mr. Braineasked the Minister of Health what representations he has received from the Royal College of Nursing on the Salmon Committee's proposals for improving the status of nurse tutors; and what action he is taking in the light of these representations.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe Royal College, in commenting on the proposals, accepted that in recognising the needs, as students, of nurses in training, the Salmon recommendations were a step in the right direction and would to some extent improve the status of nurse tutors. They did not agree that the grading proposed for tutors was right. This is a question which I hope that experience gained in the pilot schemes will help to resolve.
§ Mr. BraineDoes that reply mean that the dissenting views of the Royal College of Nursing on this score were not taken into account before the Minister wrote to hospital boards as he promised to do last March?
§ Mr. RobinsonCertainly they have been taken into account, but, as the hon. Gentleman knows, we are embarking on certain pilot schemes. I am prepared to reconsider the matter in the light of the experience of those pilot schemes.