HC Deb 27 February 1996 vol 272 cc440-1W
Mr. Alan W. Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage change there has been since 1979 in the number of(a) hospital beds in the NHS, (b) full-time equivalent nursing staff and (c) bureaucrats and administrative staff. [13248]

Mr. Malone

Information on the average daily number of available beds in 1979 is published in the "Statistical Bulletin: NHS Hospital Activity Statistics 1979–1990/91". Information for 1994–95 is published in "Bed Availability for England: 1994–95". Copies of these documents are available in the Library.

Information on managers, administrative and clerical staff, nursing and midwifery staff is shown in the table.

NHS hospital and community health services (HCHS) and general medical services (GMS) staff, England at September 1979 and 1994—whole-time equivalents
1979 1994 Percentage change
HCHS general and senior managers and administrative and clerical staff1 102,960 157,560 53
HCHS and GMS nursing and midwifery staff2 3278,760 346,700 n/a
Excluded from the nursing and midwifery figures above:
Learners4 76,650 11,080 —
Project 2000 students4 n/a 32,000 —
Notes:
1There were 41,270 GMS practice managers and other administrative staff in 1994; comparable figures are not available for 1979.
2HCHS agency staff and "learners" are excluded.
3Figure does not take into account the reduction in nurses standard working hours in 1980–81 from 40 to 37.5 hours a week, and is not directly comparable with the figure given for 1994.
4Learners are nurses on traditional nurse training courses, spending the majority of their time on patient care, and are directly employed by the NHS HCHS. Project 2000 training was introduced in 1989 and has gradually replaced traditional pre-registration nurse training. Project 2000 students are funded by bursaries, they are supernumerary not employees, and are thus excluded from the WTE count of NHS HCHS nursing staff. Figures for Project 2000 students are headcounts and should not be added to other figures which are whole-time equivalents.
HCHS figures are as at 30 September for each year. GMS figures are as at 1 October for each year. All figures are rounded to the nearest ten. Percentages are calculated using unrounded figures.

n/a denotes not applicable. Source:

Returns from SH3 and KHO3.

Department of Health annual Non-Medical Workforce Census and bi-annual General Medical Practitioner Census.