§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he has made any analysis of the relative change in remuneration of health service ancillary staff as compared with medical, nursing and other groups of staff;
(2) if he has any plans to bring the pay of health service ancillary staff into line with other public sector groups.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe pay and conditions of service of National Health Service ancillary staff are matters for negotiation in the ancillary staffs Whitley council. Comparisons with the pay of other staff groups in the national health service and elsewhere are a factor in the negotiations along with others including affordability. Management's objective is to enable adequate staff of the requisite calibre to be recruited, motivated and retained locally.
§ Mr. TrotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many national health service doctors and nurses were employed in the Northern region in 1980 and 1990.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe available information is given in the tables.
Hospital and community health service medical staff in the Northern region at 30 September each year Year Whole time equivalent (WTE) 1980 2,431.1 1981 2,484.5 1989 2,801.3 The information for 1990 is not yet available. Figures include permanent paid, honorary and locum staff.
NHS staff in post at 30 September each year Year Nursing and midwifery1 WTE2 1980 325,170 1981 26,210 1989 27,800 Information for 1990 is not yet available. The figure for 1981 is shown because of the reduction in nurses working hours—see foot note 3.
494WSource: Department of Health (SM13) Annual Consensus of NHS Non-Medical Manpower.
1Includes agency staff.
2All figures are independently rounded to the nearest ten WTE.
3Figures not adjusted to take account of the reduction in nurses working hours during 1980–81 (from 40 to 37.5 hours per week).
§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will institute a study of the cost to the health service of high rates of turnover amongst ancillary staff and of the level of stress thereby imposed on nurses through an increased work load.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyTurnover rates among ancillary staff vary substantially in different parts of the country. It is for local management to determine staffing requirements and to deal with the consequences of any high rate of turnover.