§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses returned to employment in the National Health Service(a) in the first two quarters of 1997, (b) in the first two quarters of 1998 and (c) in the first two quarters of 1999. [93132]
§ Mr. DenhamSince our national recruitment campaign began on 1 February 1999, until 30 September 1999, 2,030 nurses returned to employment in the National Health Service.
We do not hold figures centrally on the number of nurses who returned to employment in the NHS in 1997 and 1998. Information about the number of nurses joining the NHS is available from the annual survey conducted by the Office of Manpower Economics, on behalf of the Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health 649W Visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine. The results from the March 1998 survey are in the sixteenth review body report which is available in the Library.
2,327 nurses were on return to practice courses or booked on to forthcoming return to practice courses.