§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many senior officers have been retired from the National Health Service on early retirement (a) by the Wessex health authority and (b) by the East Anglia regional health authority, and have been re-employed full or part-time in the region;
(2) how many employees of (a) East Anglian regional health authority and (b) Wessex health authority, have been regraded, following reorganisation, and have received an increase in salary; and how much these salary increases have cost each health authority;
(3) how many people in the Portsmouth and south-east Hampshire health district of the Wessex region have taken early retirement; and how many of these posts have been filled.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThis information is not available centrally, and I suggest my hon. Friend should take these matters up with the Wessex and East Anglian regional health authority.
§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the additional cost per annum of regrading nursing posts (a) in the Wessex health authority and (b) in the East Anglia health authority.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThis information is not available centrally. I suggest that my hon. Friend writes to the regional health authorities concerned.
§ Mr. Hawksleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, as part of his arrangements for monitoring manpower levels, he has yet received figures of National Health Service staffing in England in September 1982.
§ Mr. FowlerThe following table gives the provisional figures, in whole-time equivalent terms, for all the main124W National Health Service staff groups at 30 September 1982, compared with the corresponding numbers at 30 September 1981.
The provisional overall increase in staff over the period was 3,400, representing—0.4 per cent. That is the lowest percentage increase since the National Health Service reorganisation in 1974, the earliest date for which comparable information is available. Broadly there have been increases in the staff groups most directly concerned with patient care and reductions in support staff. In the clinical sector, medical and dental staff increased by 500–1.3 per cent.—and nurses and midwives, by 4,300–1.1 per cent. Professional and technical staff—including clinical and non-clinical—rose by 1,900–2.8 per cent. There were decreases in the main—non-clinical—support staff groups, notably ancillary—down by 1.3 per cent.—and administrative and clerical staff—by 0.8 per cent.
We shall be closely monitoring these and future trends through the new quarterly returns, the first of which will be based on staff in post at the end of last month. This forms part of the range of measures we have introduced to increase the efficiency and effectiveness with which NHS manpower is used and deployed.
NHS directly employed staff: England, 30 September 1982: whole-time equivalents 1981 Provisional 1982 Percentage change 1981–82 Medical and dental 39,000 39,500 +1.3 Nursing and Midwifery 391,800 396,100 +1.1 Professional and Technical (excluding Works) 65,200 67,100 +2.8 Works 6,200 6,100 -1.8 Maintenance 21,000 20,900 -0.6 Admin and Clerical 108,800 107,900 -0.8 Ambulance (including Officers) 18,200 18,300 +0.6 Ancillary 172,200 169,900 -1.3 Total 822,400 825,800 +0.4 Notes:
1. The figures for 1981 are "final", updating those announced on 26 March 1982.—[Official Report, Vol. 20, c. 437–38.]
2. Medical and dental staff includes locums, but excludes hospital practitioners, part-time medical officers—clinical assistants—general medical practitioners participating in hospital staff funds, and occasional sessional staff in the community health service.
3. The figures for nursing and midwifery staff include agency nurses and midwives and health visitor students.
4. All figures rounded to the nearest 100.