§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) by what is the number of beds in the Trent Regional Health Authority short of the national average;
(2) by what numbers the Trent Regional Health Authority has less hospital manpower, fewer nurses, fewer 709W midwives and less out-patient facilities than the national average.
§ Mr. MoyleThe numbers of staff—whole-time equivalent—to the nearest 100 estimated to be required to bring the ratio of staff per 100,000 total population for Trent Regional Health Authority to the England figures are as follows:
Nurses and midwives 4,000 Professional and technical (excluding works staff) 800 Works and maintenance 600 Administrative and clerical 1,700 Ambulance staff Nil Ancillary and other 1,900 There is no single indicator which completely describes the comparative provision of out-patient facilities, but an important statistic is the average number of clinic sessions per 1,000 population. In 1975 this figure was 24.0 for Trent Regional Health Authority and 33.6 for England; it is estimated that 43,000 additional clinic sessions would be required in Trent to bring it to the national figure.
The number of beds estimated to be required to bring the 1975 ratio of beds to population for Trent Regional Health Authority to that for England is 5,500.
It should be noted that a region's need for health resources, relative to the national provision, should not be estimated on the basis of the total population alone. There are other factors which have an important bearing on the distribution of resources, and these have been incorporated into the methods recommended in the report of the Resource Allocation working Party.