§ 44. Mr. Molloyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she is satisfied with recruitment for the nursing and auxiliary services for the NHS.
§ Mr. Alec Jones:Despite a continuing increase in recent years in the number of nursing staff employed in the National Health Service the level of staffing is still 81W not satisfactory in all fields. In the professions supplementary to medicine—chiropodists, dietitians, orthoptists, radiographers and the remedial professions—and in speech therapy, staff shortages persist, although the latest figures show modest increases overall in the numbers employed. It will be some time yet before an assessment can be made of the effect upon recruitment of the substantially improved rates of pay which have been negotiated following the reports of the committee of inquiry chaired by Lord Halsbury into the pay of all these professions.