§ Mr. Rentonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total number of those employed in the National Health Service in 1965, 1970, 1975 and 1980.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinThe earliest year for which an overall total of NHS employees in England can be compiled is 1971; comparable figures for 1965 and 1970 are not available. The latest year for which comparable and complete information is available is 1979. However, my Department has made a rough estimate of NHS staff numbers for 1980 based on provisional estimates from nine regions. The figure should, therefore, be used with caution. The following is the available information:
NHS Directly-employed Staff* England as at 30 September Whole-time Equivalents 1971† 629,737 1975 717,282 1979 773,350 1980 (Estimate)‡ 793,100 *In addition to staff in the 14 regions numbers include staff in the London postgraduate teaching hospitals, the London ambulance service, the Dental Estimates Board and the Prescription Pricing Authority. Figures include locums and agency nurses and midwives. †Following NHS reorganisation on 1 April 1974, staff previously employed by local authority health departments were transferred to area health authorities. The 1971 figure has been corrected for this, but a direct comparison with the figures for the later years is unreliable. ‡The figure for 1980 is an estimate based on provisional returns from nine regions. The 1980 estimate for nursing and midwifery staff has been adjusted to take account of the reduction in the working week—from 40 to 37½ hours—to enable a comparison to be made with previous years.