§ 101. Mr. Sorensenasked the Minister of Health what progress is being made in the further recruitment of girls for the nursing service; what percentage of probationers fail to complete their training and fail in the final examination, respectively; approximately how many trained nurses are working part time; and what is the number of trained nurses and sisters at the present time compared with a year ago.
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§ Mr. BevanOn 30th June, 1947, the number of student nurses, pupil or probationer assistant nurses, and pupil mid-wives in hospitals in England and Wales was 48,384. I regret that figures compiled on the same basis are not available for earlier dates for purposes of comparison. According to the Report of the Working Party on the Recruitment and Training of Nurses, the percentage of student nurses starting training during the years 1937 to 1943 who failed to complete it was about 54 per cent. Over the past year the percentage of the entrants for the Final State Examinations who failed was about 19 per cent. The number of trained nurses and midwives employed part-time in the hospital service on 30th June, 1947, was 3,716. The number employed full-time in the same service (including sisters) was 43,076. I regret that comparable figures are not available for the previous year.