§ 65. Mr. Leadbitterasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will introduce legislation to control private nursing agencies, to terminate their use for National Health Service recruitment, and establish within the regional hospital boards complete recruiting services.
§ Sir K. JosephNo. Legislation to control the conduct of nurses agencies is in the Nurses Agencies Act 1957. Termination of the use of agency nurses in the National Health Service and exclusive reliance on directly employed staff would mean serious reduction in service to patients in some areas. The Teaching Hospitals Association is setting up a nonprofit-making agency in October.