HC Deb 14 December 1988 vol 143 cc599-600W
Mr. Steinberg

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the turnover rate amongst National Health Service speech therapists in each of the last five years.

Mr. Mellor

I regret that we do not collect this information centrally.

Mr. Steinberg

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing, by health authority (a) the establishment figure for speech therapists, (b) the actual number in place, (c) (b) as a proportion of (a), and (d) the number of cases treated in the last 12 months.

Mr. Mellor

I regret that we do not collect information on establishment and number of cases treated centrally in this form. The figures for whole-time equivalent staff in post in each English region and the London postgraduate special health authorities is as follows.

NHS staff in post
Speech therapists—England by region at 30 Sepember 1987
Region Whole-time equivalents
1. Northern RHA 160
2. Yorkshire RHA 160
3. Trent RHA 260
4. East Anglia RHA 120
5. North West Thames RHA 210
6. North East Thames RHA 240
7. South East Thames RHA 220
8. South West Thames RHA 170
9. Wessex RHA 140
10. Oxford RHA 140
11. South Western RHA 180
12. West Midlands RHA 260
13. Mersey RHA 110
14. North Western RHA 230
20. London Postgraduate Special Health Authorities 30
England Total 2,630

Source: Department of Health (SR7) Annual Census of NHS Non-Medical Manpower.

Note: All figures are independently rounded to the nearest (10) ten whole-time equivalent.

Mr. Meale

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his policy on health authorities insisting that patients or the guardians of patients in their area needing speech therapy should first sign an agreement or contract before such treatment can commence.

Mrs. Currie

[holding answer 13 December 1988]: The terms on which speech therapy is provided to individual patients is a matter for agreement between the patient, or guardian of the patient, and the local health authority and speech therapy manager responsible for the provision. Many forms of speech therapy treatment need the parent or guardian of a speech-impaired child to work with the child outside the formal speech therapy sessions to reinforce the therapy. We are not aware that health authorities are generally requiring patients or guardians to sign written contracts.

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