HC Deb 24 February 1993 vol 219 cc639-40W
Mr. Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many agency nurses were employed in each health board in each year since 1989.

Mr. Stewart

The information is not available centrally in the form requested. The table shows the average whole-time equivalent of the agency nurses working in health boards at 30 September each year.

Average whole time equivalents at 30 September
Health board 11989 11990 21991 21992
Scotland3 211.5 266.1 247.4 279.2
Argyll and Clyde 2.3 2.0 0.6 0.3
Ayrshire and Arran 7.7 2.1 2.9 40.9
Borders 4.2 0.3 0.0 0.0
Dumfries and Galloway 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.4
Fife 0.0 1.1 0.7 0.3
Forth Valley 0.6 6.8 2.3 0.0
Grampian 7.1 6.5 11.9 531.4
Greater Glasgow 85.0 153.4 117.1 164.9
Highland 0.0 0.5 0.3 0.8
Lanarkshire 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0
Lothian 104.2 91.4 109.0 80.2
Orkney 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Shetland 0.4 2.7 2.3 0.0
Tayside 0.0 0.2 0.1 0.0
Western Isles 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
1 Whole time equivalents calculated on the estimated total hours worked by agency nurses based on the six months data that are available.
2 Whole time equivalents calculated on the total hours worked by agency nurses during the year ending 30 September.
3 Rounding of individual figures may produce slight differences between the sum of constituent items and totals.
4 Ayrshire and Arran Health Board includes agency hours at the South Ayrshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
5 Grampian Health Board includes agency hours at Aberdeen Royal Hospitals NHS Trust.

Mr. Kirkwood

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what guidance has been given to health boards to ensure that student nurses are not unemployed when they qualify.

Mr. Stewart

None. The matching of newly qualified nurses to vacancies is best handled at local level. The majority of newly qualified nurses find employment on completion of their training, but student nurses are made aware at the start of their training that employment is not guaranteed at the end of their course.