§ 6. Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now establish a system of retainer payments for nurses and midwives comparable to the one by which he seeks to retain the services of women doctors after marriage.
§ Mr. AlisonI doubt whether the system as it stands would be appropriate to nurses and midwives. The Committee on Nursing under the Chairmanship of Professor Asa Briggs will no doubt be considering whether existing arrangements for attracting married nurses back into active practice need to be supplemented.
§ Mr. PavittWill the hon. Gentleman probe this matter further? Our State Registered Nurses are superb and second to none in the whole world and we are losing a tremendous number. Of 60 who passed through a London teaching hospital recently, only one is still nursing. Will he therefore put pressure on the committee and seek to report to the House at an early date?
§ Mr. AlisonI do not think the Briggs Committee needs any pressure. It will certainly be reporting before very long. I should point out that the number of qualified women nurses and midwives employed on a part-time basis in hospitals in England and Wales is increasing steadily. At the end of September, 1971, they represented 42 per cent. of the total women qualified staff. The difficulty is getting them at the right places at the right times.