§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many student nurses (SRN) and pupil nurses (SEN) qualified in the last year for which statistics are available, in both NHS and private hospitals and how many of those, respectively, obtained employment in the nursing field.
§ Mr. Deakins15,308 student nurses were successful in the examinations for the registers, and 11,292 pupil nurses in the assessments for the rolls in England and Wales in 1977. Information is not available about their subsequent employment.
§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many nurses training schools there are in England for both State registered nurses and state enrolled nurses alone; how many of those schools are in the National Health Service hospitals; and what proposals there are for closing any of the State enrolled nurse schools.
§ Mr. Deakins177 schools for both State registered and State enrolled nurses and eight schools for State enrolled nurses only: 177 of these schools are in National Health Service hospitals. The General Nursing Council for England and Wales is discussing the future of an SEN school with the hospital concerned.
§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether a directive has been issued to hospital managements to employ qualified SENs who qualified after having brought up a family and so are more mature in outlook and who have more practical experience of caring for others, in preference to SENs who qualify as soon as possible after leaving the State schooling system.
§ Mr. DeakinsEach health authority will have its own recruitment policy which will take account of the expected number of pupil nurses qualifying and the availability of more experienced nurses seeking re-employment.
318W
§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether there is a requirement for hospitals, having nursing training schools, to retain the services of student and pupil nurses at the end of their three- or two-year courses of study until the result of their examinations are known.
§ Mr. DeakinsEach health authority determines its policy on contracts for nurse learners in the light of general guidance from my Department on the Employment Protection Act 1975 and guidance from the General Nursing Council on learner contracts. The latter has advised health authorities to word their contracts so that the period of the contract can extend beyond the overall period of training to allow for various exigencies.
§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services which area health authorities have fewer than their planned number of nurses, both SRN and SEN, in employment in the general and psychiatric categories respectively; which area health authorities have more than their planned number of nurses and which area health authorities employ the planned numbers of nurses.
§ Mr. DeakinsThe information is not available centrally. Health authorities determine their own establishments for nurses and recruit accordingly.