§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement as to the degree to which unqualified staff are filling qualified posts in the National Health Service, and in particular, the numbers of nursing auxiliaries and state enrolled nurses who are doing the work of district nurses and health visitors.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe have no detailed information about the filling of individual posts but would not expect unqualified staff to be filling posts which should be filled by qualified staff. It is for individual health authorities to determine the best mix of qualified and unqualified staff to meet service needs.
At 30 September 1982 there were, in whole-time equivalent terms, 3,749 state enrolled nurses (including senior state enrolled nurses) and 2,391 nursing auxiliaries employed in the district nursing service and 118 state enrolled nurses (including senior state enrolled nurses) and 144 nursing auxiliaries employed in the health visiting service in England. The normal arrangement within these services is that the district nurse or health visitor is the leader of a team which may include SRNs, enrolled nurses and auxiliaries. Particular nursing tasks will be delegated to members of the team as appropriate.