HC Deb 25 February 1975 vol 887 c115W
31. Mr. William Hamilton

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proposals she has for overcoming staff shortages in the mental health services.

Mrs. Castle

Improved recruitment is partly a question of additional financial resources and partly of attracting recruits to a better quality of service. Proposals for better services for the mentally ill are being put forward in the White Paper which it is intended to issue later this year. I am making a public announcement about mental handicap services tomorrow. So far as nurses and the professions supplementary to medicine are concerned, it is hoped that the substantial improvements in pay resulting from the recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry under Lord Halsbury will provide an additional incentive to work in this important sector of the health service.