§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is aware that the nursing staff to patient ratios at Warley and Runwell psychiatric hospitals in Essex are 22.8 and 23.9 respectively, compared to Oxford where it is 38.9 ; and what plans he has to rectify this position.
§ Mr. CrossmanYes. These are the ratios per hundred in-patients. There are serious recruitment difficulties at these hospitals stemming in part from their isolation. I am urgently considering with regional hospital boards ways by which a greater share of total resources can be diverted to improve conditions, including nurse staffing, in psychiatric hospitals.