§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many(a) district nurses, (b) community midwives, (c) health visitors, (d) community psychiatric nurses and (e) practice nurses are or were employed in the national health service in Wales in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Redwood[holding answer 7 June 1993]: Detailed breakdowns of nursing staff employed by district health authorities and national health service trusts into occupational groups such as those requested are not considered reliable. However information on the whole-time equivalent numbers of all nursing and midwifery staff is listed in table 1.
Information on the whole-time equivalent numbers of practice nurses employed by general medical practitioners is listed in table 2.
Table 1 Nursing and midwifery staff employed by district health authorities and national health service trusts in post as at 30 September Year Number 1988 27,920 1989 28,037 1990 28,093 1991 27,962 11992 27,583
Table 2 Practice nurses employed by general medical practitioners as at 1 October Year Number 1988 194 1989 268 1990 459 1991 524 1992 519 1 In addition there are about 1,000 student nurses who have been reclassified as students from nurses following the introduction of Project 2000 nursing education reforms