§ Mr. Thomas Coxasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when the staffing allocation in hospitals was last reviewed.
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§ Mr. AlisonIt is the responsibility of each hospital to review periodically its own staff needs. Apart from the special arrangements made for medical consultants, there are no central allocations of staff.
§ Mr. Thomas Coxasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the number of approved hospital staff in each of the following hospitals; St. George's, Tooting, S.W.17, St. Benedict's, Tooting, Springfield Hospital, Tooting, and Tooting Bee Hospital, Tooting; and what present vacancies exist in these hospitals.
§ Mr. AlisonThe information requested is:
NUMBERS OF STAFF IN POST AND VACANCIES (WHOLE TIME EQUIVALENT) AT 31ST DECEMBER 1973 Hospital Medical In post Vacancies St. Benedict's Hospital 4.5 — Tooting Bec Hospital 15 2 Springfield Hospital 22.5 1.5 St. George's Hospital, Tooting 108 1 Hospital Nursing In post Vacancies St. Benedict's Hospital 132.99 12.01 Tooting Bec Hospital 485 114 Springfield Hospital 503 — St. George's Hospital, Tooting 429 59 Professional and Technical Hospital In post Vacancies St. Benedict's Hospital 13.14 10.87 Tooting Bec Hospital 24.01 15.07 Springfield Hospital 23.75 15.26 St. George's Hospital, Tooting 103 10 Administrative and Clerica Hospital In post Vacancies St. Benedict's Hospital 7.68 2.01 Tooting Bec Hospital 40.24 16.53 Springfield Hospital 50 14.25 St. George's Hospital, Tooting 195 14 Ancillary Hospital In post Vacancies St. Benedict's Hospital 105.82 24.7 Tooting Bec Hospital 330.69 54.84 Springfield Hospital 292.0 35.5 St. George's Hospital, Tooting 410 38
§ Mr. Thomas Coxasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will 198W list the approved staffing allocation per 100 patients, for the following types of hospital, namely, general hospital nursing, geriatric hospital nursing and mental hospital nursing.
§ Mr. AlisonThere are no nationally determined yardsticks for assessing the nurse staffing requirements of hospitals. Individual hospital authorities (in association as appropriate with regional hospital boards) are responsible for fixing nursing establishments for the hospitals which they administer and allocating nursing staff within these hospitals.
My Department has, however, laid down minimum standards of nurse staffing which authorities have been asked to achieve for geriatric hospitals and departments and hospitals for the mentally ill and mentally handicapped, as part of an overall programme to improve services in those hospitals. These minimum standards, which authorities should seek to improve on as resources and local circumstances permit, are as follows:
Geriatric hospitals and departments. One nurse to 1.9 patients (inclusive of allowances for annual leave, sick leave and training).
Hospitals for the mentally ill. One nurse to three patients (inclusive of allowances as above).
Hospitals for the mentally handicapped. One nurse to 4.4 available beds (exclusive of allowances as above).