§ 11. Mr. Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will investigate the reasons why hospitals are understaffed during periods of widespread unemployment.
§ Dr. OwenHospital staffing levels are determined primarily by the financial resources approved by Parliament and the availability of professionally qualified staff.
§ Mr. AtkinsonIs my hon. Friend aware, however, that the National Health Service is certainly still the Cinderella service of all the public services in the sense that over the last 20 years—at any rate, until the end of 1974—the percentage of gross domestic product donated to the Health Service was estimated at about 3.6 per cent? As a result, the situation is now somewhat ludicrous, because hospital boards cannot encourage people to take jobs in hospitals when their take-home pay, in the absence of excessive overtime, is less than they could receive if they were drawing supplementary benefit. When the take-home pay of portering and catering staffs in hospitals is compared with benefits of the kind I have mentioned, it will be appreciated that that is a deterrent to working in the Service. Does this not illustrate not that social benefits are too high but that the blessed wages paid in the Service are too low?
§ Dr. OwenNo one would say that the wage structure in the Health Service was perfect by any means. However, in the last two wage settlements my right hon. Friend has been able to achieve a very considerable improvement in the 234 very low wages among some of the ancillary workers. The £6 settlement has helped them relative to other sections of the community. However, as my hon. Friend pointed out, this has been achieved only by a conscious decision to increase the percentage of the gross national product devoted to the Service—for example by 0.5 per cent. last year.
§ Dr. VaughanDoes the Minister agree that the policy of closing down small local hospitals that are both economic and fairly easy to staff will increase staffing problems for nurses considerably?
§ Dr. OwenIt depends on which hospitals are involved. Some small hospitals are economic and easy to staff and they should be retained. Some small hospitals are uneconomic, expensive and often situated in areas where there are already many more beds per head of population than in other areas. Some of these hospitals ought to be closed. That is particularly true of some of the bigger centres and the cities.