§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the National Health Service spent on hiring agency nursing staff in the last 12 months. [20735]
§ Mr. HuttonThe expenditure on non-National Health Service nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff, in England, for the financial year 2000–01 was £447,248,470. The non-NHS staff figures include all nurses, midwives and health visiting staff not directly employed by the NHS. We are unable to disaggregate agency nurses. The 2000–01 figure is the latest available and is provisional.
§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimates he has made of the impact of staff shortages on NHS capacity. [20625]
§ Mr. HuttonThe NHS Plan, published in July 2000, acknowledges that the shortage of human resources is the biggest constraint faced by the national health service736W today. The plan sets targets for recruiting 20,000 more nurses, 7,500 more consultants, 6,500 more therapists and other health professionals and 2,000 more general practitioners by 2004 over the 1999 baseline. The Government's manifesto carried these commitments forward.
The NHS Plan also contains targets for increasing the number of students in training. There will be: 5,500 more nurses and midwives entering training each year by 2004 than there were in 1999, 4,450 more therapists and other key professional staff being trained by 2004, 1,000 more specialist registrars and 450 (since raised to 550) more doctors training for general practice by 2004.
Taken together, these targets will address current shortages and provide for growth required to improve services in line with National Service Frameworks, the Cancer Plan and waiting time commitments.