§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether his Department has assessed the sufficiency of local or regional monitoring of the provision of services for mentally handicapped persons in Wales.
§ Mr. GristAll county joint planning teams, which are responsible for the planning of services for people with mental handicap supported by funding made available under the all-Wales handicap strategy, assess the progress made in the development of those services. The Department meets the county joint planning teams annually to discuss the progress and planning of mental handicap services. Additionally, research teams based in the university of Wales college of medicine and the university college of North Wales, Bangor are undertaking an extensive programme of formal research to evaluate the development of mental handicap services; and the question of a system of independent review of these services is to be considered by the newly reconstituted all-Wales advisory panel on the development of services for people with a mental handicap.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales in what way regional health authority strategic plans embody a commitment to the continuation of mental handicap nurse training in Wales.
§ Mr. GristDistrict health authorities in Wales will shortly be formulating their second round strategic plans, and guidelines for their production will be issued in the spring 1989. Authorities will be expected to continue to 341W develop services for people with mental handicaps, and support for and continuation of mental handicap nurse training will be an integral component in that process.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what provisions regions are making, as services move out into the community, to continue their commitment to mental handicap nurse training in Wales.
§ Mr. GristThe strategy for nursing in Wales published by the Department in 1987 had as one of its objectives the development of a comprehensive system of progressional education to enable the profession to meet the changing needs of the population in Wales.
The change of emphasis in the care of people with mental handicaps as established in the all-Wales mental handicap strategy has demonstrated the need for different education and training for learners and further education for staff already trained. Health authorities are expected to take full account of this in the development of community based services for those with a mental handicap, and the issue is being monitored with authorities through the annual review process.
Information about health authorities' current proposals for future mental handicap training is currently being collated at the all-Wales level through a manpower resource planning exercise involving all health authorities and will be available later in the year.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many nurses entered into mental handicap nurse training for each of the past five years in each region in Wales.
§ Mr. GristInformation relating to entrants into mental handicap nurse training is held by the Welsh National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting and is available by district health authority for four years as shown in the following table:
Nurses entering mental handicap training 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 Gwent Registered 12 9 13 13 Enrolled 6 5 7 0 Gwynedd Registered 14 6 6 0 Enrolled 8 0 6 0 Mid Glamorgan Registered 15 14 16 21 Enrolled 8 7 8 0 Powys Registered 0 0 0 0 Enrolled 11 6 12 6 South Glamorgan Registered 5 6 8 13 Enrolled 12 0 7 0 Notes:
1. Clwyd, East Dyfed, Pembrokeshire and West Glamorgan are not approved by the Welsh national board to run mental handicap registered or enrolled nurse training.
2. Years quoted in the table above are 1 April to 31 March.