§ Mr. TippingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will set out by health authority and regional health authority how many nurse clinical grading appeals are pending at an employing authority level, a regional level and a national level; what amount of money these claims involve; what steps are being made to speed the appeal process; and when she estimates this process will be completed.
§ Mr. SackvilleInformation on the number of appeals outstanding is shown in the table. The number has dropped from just over 20,000 at 31 May 1993 to below 5,000 at 31 December 1993. No estimate of the total sum of arrears to be paid as a result of clinical grading appeals has been made. The Nursing and Midwifery Staffs Negotiating Council is currently discussing new procedures to speed up and streamline the appeals process. It is expected that all cases outstanding will be cleared before the end of 1995. Where a region has only a small number of appeals outstanding, all cases are expected to be cleared in the next few months.
Outstanding clinical grading appeals situation as at 31 December 1993 Region Employing authority level Regional authority level National level Total Trent 0 683 68 751 North Western 58 502 150 710 West Midlands 134 371 52 557 Yorkshire 31 406 111 548 North West Thames 35 350 22 407 Mersey 139 123 96 358 South West Thames 0 0 321 321 North East Thames 18 219 20 257 South Western 0 152 63 215 Wessex 0 123 50 173 South East Thames 0 118 34 152 East Anglian 0 90 58 148 Northern 0 0 147 147 Oxford 0 0 75 75 Total 415 3,137 1,267 4,819 Notes
The table has been put together based on information supplied by regional health authorities.