§ Mr. Philip Hollandasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people, other than medical doctors and nurses, were employed by the area health authorities in each health region in December 1978, December 1979 and December 1980.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinThe number of staff employed by health authorities in each regional health authority area in England—excluding medical, dental and nursing and midwifery staff—is shown in the table below, together with comparable figures for the London post-graduate teaching hospitals, the London ambulance service, the 77W Dental Estimates Board and the Prescription Pricing Authority. Staff covered by the figures include scientists and technicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, radiographers and chiropodists and other professional and technical staff as well as works staff, ambulance staff, maintenance staff, ancillary staff and administrative and clerical personnel. The figures include staff employed at regional headquarters and units as well as those directly employed by area health authorities, and are expressed as whole-time equivalents. Information is available only as at 30 September of each year and the latest date for which comparable and complete information is available is 1979. However, a rough estimate of NHS staff in England at 30 September 1980, based on provisional returns from nine regions, appears in the table.
NHS DIRECTLY-EMPLOYED STAFF (excluding Medical and Dental Nursing and Midwifery staff) Englnd—as at 30 September Whole-time equivalents 1978 1979 1980* (estimate) 1. Northern RHA 23,834 24,375 — 2. Yorkshire RHA 27,287 27,140 — 3. Trent RHA 32,117 34,536 — 4. East Anglia RHA 12,975 13,251 — 5. NW Thames RHA 27,908 28,036 — 6. NE Thames RHA 32,999 32,142 — 7. SE Thames RHA 32,760 32,957 — 8. SW Thames RHA 23,137 23,706 — 9. Wessex RHA 18,401 19,497 — 10. Oxford RHA 15,109 15,694 — 11. South Western RHA 24,016 24,084 — 12. West Midlands RHA 37,194 37,889 — 13. Mersey RHA 20,760 20,426 — 14. North Western RHA 32,116 32,330 — London post-graduate teaching hospitals 5,861 5,755 — London ambulance service 2,751 2,513 — Dental Estimates Board and Prescription Pricing Authority 3,456 3,510 — ENGLAND total 372,681 377,841 387,900 * The figure for 1980 is an estimate based on provisional returns from