HL Deb 18 December 1985 vol 469 cc878-9WA
Lord Molloy

asked her Majesty's Government:

How they intend to remedy the shortage of nursing staff in the National Health Service.

Baroness Trumpington

Although there are difficulties in recruitment in some locations and some specialties, overall, qualified nursing and midwifery staff in England continue to increase and there is no general shortage. Between September 1978 and September 1984 there was an increase of 39,400 to 227,000 in whole time equivalent terms. To assist health authorities in their recruitment of nursing staff the department does however devote resources to a continuing publicity campaign designed to persuade more people to take up nursing as a career and to attract more recruits to areas and specialties in which they are needed.