§ Baroness Turner of Camdenasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will list by region those National Health Service trusts which have reported shortages of (a) psychiatrists, (b) psychiatric hospital nurses and (c) community mental nurses; and what central initiative they propose to improve recruitment and retention of these professionals.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)The information is not available centrally. We accept the view of the 1997 review body for nursing that, while70WA there is at present no general shortage of nursing staff, healthcare employers need strategies to improve recruitment and retention. Planning guidance issued by the National Health Service Executive in June 1996 recognised the need for employers to improve their recruitment and retention through the spread of good employment practices such as flexible working arrangements, return to practice courses and continuing professional development. A £32 million package of measures was announced on 29 January 1997 to enhance existing policies concerned with recruitment and retention and to encourage the return of trained nurses back to the health service.
In addition, the Government accepted the specialist workforce advisory group's recommendation to increase the number of higher specialist trainees in 1997–98 by a total of 850; £4.5 million will fund a minimum of 250 new training placements in the priority specialties which include psychiatry (mental illness), forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy. We are also working closely with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to take forward a range of initiatives to improve the recruitment and retention of psychiatrists. We shall be publishing shortly the report of a joint working party and the proceedings of a conference between the NHS Executive and the Royal College, held in November 1996, where my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health outlined a series of plans to increase the numbers of psychiatrists.