§ Mr. Hodgsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what study he has made of the amount of time given to the study of speech and language disorders in children and adults in the training of members of the para-medical professions; and what conclusions he has reached.
§ Mr. DeakinsNone. The training of members of para-medical professions is the responsibility of bodies independent of my Department and I have therefore not undertaken any special study of the matters outlined.
§ Mr. Hodgsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what study he has made of the amount of time given to the nature and problems of speech and language disorders in children and adults in the training of doctors; and what conclusions he has reached.
§ Mr. MoyleI have not undertaken any special study of the matters outlined. The content of undergraduate education does not fall within the responsibilities of my Department, but, under the normal arrangements for postgraduate medical education in the National Health Service, provision may be made for doctors to attend courses on any subject for which there is a need.
§ Mr. Hodgsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what study he has made of the amount of time given to the study of speech and language disorders in children and adults in the training of nurses; and what conclusions he has reached.
§ Mr. DeakinsNone. The training of nurses is the responsibility of the nurse training bodies. Speech and language disorders are included in basic and post-basic nurse training as symptoms or evidence of other disorders but are not taught as separate topics.
§ Mr. Hodgsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of the resources of the National Health Service is devoted to the provision of speech therapy services for children and adults.
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§ Mr. DeakinsThe amount of revenue expenditure in the financial year 1976–1977 devoted to the provision of speech therapy services for children and adults in England was about £5.6 million. This represents just under 0.2 per cent. of total revenue expenditure on hospital and community services in that year.
§ Mr. Hodgsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many adults there are in Great Britain with speech and language disorders; how many of this number have speech disorders of a neurological nature; and how many of this number are over the age of 68 years, and between 18 to 65 years.
§ Mr. DeakinsInformation is not collected on the numbers of people in the population with speech or language disorders. The Quirk report, published in 1972, in making recommendations for the future level of speech therapy services, made a number of assumptions about the size of various categories of adult patients and the demand they placed on the speech therapy services. It concluded that at that time there were about 40,000 adults in Great Britain in need of speech therapy.
§ Mr. Hodgsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average waiting period for an adult patient requiring speech therapy for a consultation and treatment.
§ Mr. DeakinsNo figures are collected on the waiting period for patients requiring speech therapy.
It would not be possible to arrive at a meaningful figure for average waiting time since this will vary according to the urgency of the condition and between one area and another according to number of speech therapists available and competing demands on their services.
§ Mr. Hodgsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the authorised establishment of speech therapists in each regional health authority and in each area health authority; and how many of these posts are currently filled;
(2) what is the authorised establishment of speech therapists in the community health service and in the hospital service.
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§ Mr. DeakinsThere are no nationally agreed staffing levels for speech therapy services, nor is information available centrally on the establishments authorised, but unfilled, by area or regional health authorities. The number of speech therapists in post at 30th September 1976, the latest date for which information is available, is as follows:
SPEECH THERAPISTS IN POST (WHOLE TIME EQUIVALENTS) AT SEPTEMBER 1976 (ENGLAND) Northern Regional Health Authority Cleveland 5.7 Cumbria 10.2 Durham 7.6 Northumberland 4.0 Gateshead 3.0 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 10.6 North Tyneside 3.6 South Tyneside 1.8 Sunderland 4.3 Total 50.5
Yorkshire Regional Health Authority Humberside 14.1 North Yorkshire 15.4 Bradford 13.7 Calderdale 4.4 Kirklees 9.7 Leeds 20.3 Wakefield 6.2 Total 83.8
Trent Regional Health Authority Derbyshire 17.2 Leicestershire 20.3 Lincolnshire 9.7 Nottinghamshire 21.5 Barnsley 3.0 Doncaster 2.8 Rotherham 1.1 Sheffield 14.9 Total 90.9
East Anglia Regional Health Authority Cambridgeshire 24.4 Norfolk 20.4 Suffolk 13.2 Total 58.0 394W
North-West Thames Regional Health Authority Bedfordshire 14.9 Hertfordshire 30.0 Barnet 8.2 Brent/Harrow 13.8 Ealing/Hammersmith/Hounslow 15.8 Hillingdon 5.4 Kensington and Chelsea/Westminster 10.6 Total 98.7
North-East Thames Regional Health Authority Essex 31.4 Barking/Havering 6.0 Camden/Islington 14.9 City and East London 31.0 Enfield/Haringey 13.5 Redbridge/Waltham Forest 14.4 Total 111.2
South-East Thames Regional Health Authority East Sussex 22.3 Kent 34.8 Green wich/Bexley 19.8 Bromley 7.5 Lambeth/Lewisham/South wark 32.7 Total 117.1
South-West Thames Regional Health Authority Surrey 28.2 West Sussex 13.4 Croydon 10.3 Kingston/Richmond 13.5 Merton/Sutton/Wandsworth 18.3 Total 84.0
Wessex Regional Health Authority Dorset 10.6 Hampshire 24.0 Wiltshire 19.8 Isle of Wight 3.0 Total 57.4
Oxford Regional Health Authority Berkshire 28.0 Buckinghamshire 17.6 Northamptonshire 8.0 Oxfordshire 16.4 Total 70.0
South-Western Regional Health Authority Avon 30.2 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 8.8 Devon 23.7 Gloucestershire 13.8 Somerset 9.2 Total 85.7 395W
Mersey Regional Health Authority Cheshire 26.3 Liverpool 12.8 St. Helens/Knowsley 1.0 Sefton 4.8 Wirral 6.3 Total 51.2
West Midlands Regional Health Authority Hereford and Worcester 21.9 Salop 17.2 Staffordshire 14.8 Warwickshire 9.9 Birmingham 26.8 Coventry 11.3 Dudley 7.4 Sandwell 8.5 Solihull 5.4 Walsall 11.0 Wolverhampton 2.4 Total 136.6
North Western Regional Health Authority Lancashire 19.2 Bolton 2.4 Bury 3.0 Manchester 24.6 Oldham 3.9 Rochdale 0.3 Salford 3.7 Stockport 7.5 Tameside 3.2 Trafford 3.0 Wigan 1.6 Total 72.4