HC Deb 13 December 1967 vol 756 cc139-40W
87. Sir M. Stoddart-Scott

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether Senior Aircraftwoman Wilkinson M. R2842036 has yet been permitted to commence training as a nurse; and in view of the shortage of nurses in Her Majesty's Services and in the Health Service, why she has been prevented from commencing a nurse's training for over two years.

Mr. Merlyn Rees:

S.A.C.W. Wilkinson still does not meet the educational standard for entry to S.R.N. training in the Royal Air Force. Because of under-manning, the trade of Nursing Attendant, for which she was recruited and in which she is employed, is not open to discharge by purchase, except on extreme compassionate grounds. She will be discharged in August, 1968, when her four-year engagement ends and has, I understand, applied for a course beginning at Bradford Hospital in September, 1968.