§ Dr. PughTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many nurses with specialist qualifications in paediatric medicine are working in the NHS; [117768]
(2) how many NHS nurses with specialist qualifications in paediatric medicine there are per head of population. [117769]
§ Mr. HuttonInformation on the number of nurses with specialist qualifications in paediatric medicine employed in the national health service is not collected centrally.
As at September 2001, the latest available data, there were 17,640 nurses employed in the paediatric nursing area of work. This represents 36 per 100,000 population and is a 15 per cent. increase since 1997.