§ Mr. O'Brienasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the conditions of service for nurses who transfer with mentally handicapped people from the hospitals to community care for mentally handicapped people with social services departments; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mrs. Currie[pursuant to her reply, 3 March 1987]: Transfer terms for NHS staff who moved to local authority employment as a result of the care in the community initiative are the subject of discussion between the Government Departments concerned.
Currently, nursing staff who transfer with mentally handicapped patients from hospitals to local authority community care may, depending on arrangements made locally, either move on secondment (retaining NHS conditions of service) or be recruited by the local authority on local government terms and conditions of service. We are actively exploring the feasibility of modifying these arrangements to facilitate such staff transfers.