§ Mr. McCuskerTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff midwives employed in hospitals throughout Northern Ireland have been given an F grade in the recent clinical grading exercise; and what percentage this represents of the total staff midwives employed.
§ Mr. Needham[holding answer 7 November 1989]: At the date of regrading (1 April 1988) the number of whole-time equivalent staff midwives in post in Northern Ireland was 779 and of that number 11 posts were given an F grade in the new clinical grading structure. This represents 1.4 per cent. of the total number of staff midwife posts.
In Northern Ireland the health and personal social services are fully integrated and the above figures include those staff midwife posts in a community setting as these cannot be identified separately at this time.