HL Deb 10 February 1988 vol 493 cc206-7

3.1 p.m.

The Countess of Mar

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of nurses trained in paediatric intensive care.

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, the Government are aware that some authorities in England do have difficulty in recruiting sufficient suitably qualified staff in particular locations and specialties, including paediatric intensive care. The department is having discussions with regional nursing officers and regional general managers about these difficulties and how they can be overcome.

In addition to the present course at Great Ormond Street Hospital, work is in hand to establish three further post-basic paediatric intensive care nursing courses in Birmingham, Manchester and London.

The Countess of Mar

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Earl for giving that information. Is he aware that consultants have been warning the Department of Health and Social Security for a very long time—in the case of Manchester, for five years—that there would be an acute shortage of paediatric intensive care nurses? Is he further aware that the Birmingham paediatric training scheme is not due to produce nurses until 1991? Can the noble Earl say what will happen when children are likely to die or be severely disabled because of delayed operations due to a lack of staff?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, in answer to the first question asked by the noble Countess, the primary responsibility for the recruitment of nursing staff must rest with health authorities. Only they can decide on the appropriate levels of staffing in the light of local needs, priorities and the resources which can be allocated to meeting those needs.

As regards Birmingham, the first intake in training is expected to commence at the beginning of 1989. It is hoped that the first nurses qualifying in paediatric intensive care at the Birmingham Children's Hospital will be available for service in the latter half of 1989.

Lord Molloy

My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that in some parts of the country there is a practice whereby general nurses are being crash-trained to serve in the paediatric intensive care wards? The result has been simply that one service has been denuded of nurses and the other not properly equipped. Can the noble Earl look at the position?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, I can only take note of the noble Lord's comments.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, are we not now facing a real and long-foreseen crisis with what the Royal College of Nursing today calls an horrendous shortage of paediatric nurses and a drastic closure of intensive care cots at specialised children's hospitals all over the country, including Great Ormond Street, Guys, Brompton, the Alderhey hospital in Liverpool and many others? With only one course at present operative, is it not absolutely essential, in order to prevent deaths as the noble Countess said, to have a special allocation of money to deal with this crisis situation?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, the total number of nursing staff employed in paediatric intensive care units in England at 30th September 1986 was 360, an increase of 7.8 per cent. over the figure at September 1985. As I have said, the intention is considerably to increase that over the years.

Lord Hayter

My Lords, can the noble Earl confirm the extraordinary position at Birmingham, where the central Birmingham district has been given a grant enabling the post of a nursing tutor to be established but it cannot get nurses to attend those classes because Birmingham does not have the funds to staff the wards if they were to do so?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, I understand that that is not the case. A tutor has already been engaged and he is already starting to teach nurses.

Lord Hunter of Newington

My Lords, have the Government any confidence in the management of the health service in the West Midlands in the light of what the Minister himself has said?

The Earl of Arran

I am extremely sorry but I did not hear all of the noble Lord's question.

Lord Hunter of Newington

My Lords, have the Government every confidence in the management in the West Midlands in the light of what the Minister himself said about the importance of management in planning to meet the kind of staffing problem with which it is faced?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, I think that is somewhat wide of the Question on the Order Paper.