§ Mr. O'Brienasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has about shortages of trained nurses in hospitals for the mentally sick and handicapped; and if he will give figures on a regional basis.
§ Mr. HayhoeI regret that detailed information of this nature is not collected centrally. However, a survey for the Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives and Health Visitors showed that at 31 March 1984 in England 3 per cent. of all whole-time equivalent funded posts for mental illness and 4.6 per cent. for mental handicap nursing staff remained vacant for at least three months, compared with the average of 2.5 per cent. of all nursing and midwifery staff.
The information for March 1985 is still being validated.