§ Mr. LofthouseTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many consultants are employed by Pontefract district health authority on contracts; and how many of these work(a) full-time and (b) part-time for the National Health Service;
(2) what is the annual cost of consultants' contracts for the Pontefract district health authority.
§ Mrs. CurrieInformation on the number of consultants in non-teaching districts such as Pontefract is not available centrally as such staff are employed by regional health560W authorities. Some information on costs is available from district accounts. In 1986–87 Pontefract's total expenditure on salaries and wages of consultants was £1,376,934. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman of Yorkshire regional health authority for any further information which he requires.
§ Mr. LofthouseTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many beds have been closed either temporarily or permanently in each of the past three years in the Pontefract district health authority area; and how long each closure lasted;
(2) what is the bed availability to the Pontefract district health authority at the latest date; and if he will give similar figures for each year since 1979.
§ Mrs. CurrieInformation is available centrally only on the average number of beds in Pontefract. This is given in the table, together with discharges and deaths per available bed.
The hon. Member may wish to approach the chairman of Pontefract DHA for the remainder of the information he is seeking.
Average daily available beds in Pontefract district health authority Average daily available beds 1Throughput 1979 853.5 22.3 1980 848.3 25.0 1981 873.0 24.2 1982 864.5 23.1 1983 883.0 25.1 1984 904.0 25.0 1985 884.9 26.2 1986 880.6 25.9 1 Discharges and deaths per available bed. Figures before 1982 relate to Pontefract's predecessor district within Wakefield area health authority.
§ Mr. LofthouseTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many nurses have left the Pontefract district health authority since 1979; how many have been reinstated; what is the present number in post; and what was the number in post in 1979.
§ Mrs. CurrieSuch figures as are available are shown in the table. Because of the 1982 National Health Service reorganisation, figures on a consistent basis are not held centrally for the years prior to 1982. Information on nurses who have left, or been reinstated, is not held centrally. The hon. Member may wish to contact the chairman of the Pontefract district health authority for this information.
561W
NHS nursing and midwifery staff in post1 Pontefract District Health Authority at 30 September Whole time equivalents2 1982 1,020 1983 1,040 1984 1,070 1985 1,080 1986 1,100 Source: DHSS annual census of National Health Service nonmedical manpower. 1 Includes agency staff. 2 Figures are independently rounded to nearest ten whole time equivalents.
§ Mr. LofthouseTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many appointments he has made to the Pontefract health authority since 1983.
§ Mrs. CurrieThe Secretary of State reappointed Mr. R. Widdowson as chairman of Pontefract health authority on 1 April 1986. The appointment of members to Pontefract district health authority is the responsibility of the Yorkshire regional health authority and certain local authorities.