Mr. Hookyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report the total number of (a) general practitioners, (b) hospital medical staff, (c) nurses and midwives, (d) hospital auxiliary employees, and (e) dentists employed in the National Health Service in Great Britain at the nearest convenient date in 1978 and the comparable figures for 1968.
§ Mr. MoyleI regret that the most recent information available for all these groups is for 1976. On as nearly comparable a basis as possible, the information is as follows in respect of England and Wales.
30th September General medical 1968 1976 practitioners* 21,397 23,377 General dental practitioners* 10,593 12,054 Hospital medical staff 21,232 29,251 Hospital dental staff 695 906 Hospital nursing and midwifery staff 241,294 320,129 Ancillary staff† 176,759 185,145 Notes: * Excludes hospital practitioner and para 94 and 107 appointments. † These figures are not truly comparable since the 1968 figure is for hospital services only, whereas the 1976 figure is for all NHS ancillary staff. Figures for practitioners are numbers, for other staff whole time equivalents.