§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for Social Services by what number dental staff in the Trent Regional Health Authority is below the national average.
§ Mr. MoyleDental staff are employed in the school and priority dental service, which devotes almost all its time to the school population, and in the hospital dental service. In the school and priority dental service there were at 30th September 1975 1.09 dentists per 10,000 of the school population in the Trent Region and 1.65 per 10,000 in England—whole-time equivalent of all staff.
In the hospital dental service there were at 30th September 1975 1.18 dentists per 100,000 of the total population in the Trent Region and 1.81 dentists per 100,000 in England—whole-time equivalent of all staff.
§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if there is any statistical evidence to indicate that there are fewer health problems in the Trent 500W Regional Health Authority area than average.
§ Mr. MoyleThere is no group of indicators which completely describes the comparative health status of a given population. However, two important statistics are the standard mortality ratio and the infant mortality rate. The following table shows that these figures, for 1974, for Trent region are close to those for England and Wales:
Trent Regional Health Authority England and Wales Standard Mortality Ratio for all cases 102 100 Infant Mortality Rate 16 16