§ 28. Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the official establishment of hospital pharmacists in each of the past five years; what has been the actual strength in the same years; and what are the estimates for the current year.
§ Dr. John DunwoodyThe information is not available. Individual hospital authorities have staffing complements for hospital pharmacists but these are not fixed centrally.
§ Mr. JuddDoes my hon. Friend agree that the shortage has been adversely affecting the efficiency of the hospital service and that it is highly distressing that a career in the sale of cosmetics should be more attractive to a qualified pharmacist than a career in the essential hospital service?
§ Dr. DunwoodyI agree that there are real problem in this sphere. As my hon. Friend probably knows, a working party, under the chairmanship of Sir Noel Hall, is looking into the whole matter and it is expected to report early next year. I think we should wait for its report.
§ Miss QuennellIt the figures for these essential professional people are not 642 available centrally to the hon. Gentleman's Department, how can that Department tell whether the services are likely to break down or not?
§ Dr. DunwoodyWe are in contact with the departments in different parts of the country through the regional hospital boards, but the individual hospital authorities should, quite rightly, be given a degree of freedom in the staffing of these units. This is the position today.
§ Mr. Maurice MacmillanDoes the hon. Gentleman really mean that he does not know how short of pharmacists any hospital or group of hospitals is? Surely he ought to know that, and know what to do about it.
§ Dr. DunwoodyI did not say that. We do know. I said that we do not carry all the information for the whole country, but we know of particular problems in particular areas through our contacts at regional hospital board level.