§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many nursing vacancies are(a) unfilled and (b) filled by agency and temporary staff in the NHS in England; [146366]
(2) how many nursing vacancies at the Royal Berkshire Hospital are (a) unfilled and (b) filled by agency and temporary staff. [146365]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answers 22 January 2001]: Information on unfilled vacancies as at 31 March 2000 is shown in the table.
Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff three month vacancies1 Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals National Health Service Trust2 80 England 9,870 1 Posts that had been vacant for three months or more. Numbers are whole-time equivalents rounded to the nearest 10. 2 The Trust covers the Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals. Source:
Department of Health Vacancies Survey March 2000
Information on how many of the national vacancies were filled by agency and temporary staff is not available centrally.
Information from the Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals NHS Trust shows that in December 2000 all qualified nursing vacancies were covered by 99.15 whole-time equivalent agency and casual staff.