§ Mr. BoyesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the nurse-patient ratio in(a) the Sunderland district health authority and (b) the Northern regional health authority for each of the last nine years.
§ Mr. NewtonSuch information as is available is shown in the table.
Due to the 1982 National Health Service reorganisation, figures on a consistent basis for years prior to 1982 are not available for Sunderland district health authority. Figures for Northern regional health authority have been given for the same years for comparison. Nursing and midwifery staff in post figures are a "snapshot" on 30 September whereas patient figures include in-patients, outpatients, day cases and emergencies aggregated over a calendar year.
Due to the differing methods of collection, any ratio calculated would therefore be crude and could be misleading. Staff and patient Figures have therefore been presented separately.
National Health Service nursing and midwifery staff in post1 Whole-time equivalents2 At 30 September Sunderland district health authority Northern regional health authority 1982 2,490 26,380 1983 2,570 26,840 1984 2,520 26,740 1985 2,580 27,110 1986 2,590 27,390 Source: DHSS annual census of National Health Service non-medical manpower. 1 Includes agency staff. 2 Figures independently rounthd to nearest ten whole-time equivalents.
In-patient cases treated in Sunderland district health authority and Northern region Sunderland district health authority Northern regional health authority 1982 45,559 376,067 1983 49,225 409,115 1984 50,945 420,080 1985 51,110 433,131 1986 48,820 441,095