HC Deb 26 January 2004 vol 417 cc190-1W
Mr. Baron

To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 8 January 2004,Official Report, column 467W, how many public health nurses there were in the NHS in each of the last 10 years. [148910]

Mr. Hutton

[holding answer 19 January 2004]Workforce information currently collected by the Department does not identify either school nurses or communicable disease control nurses, two of the main groups of public health nurses. Health visitors are the only public health nurses separately identified in the non-medical workforce census. The following table shows the number of health visitors employed in the national health service since 1992.

NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified health visitors in England as at 30 September each specified year
Headcount
1992 12,038
1993 12,059
1994 11,548
1995 12,079
1996 12,350
1997 12,410
1998 12,572
1999 12,800

NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified health visitors in England as at 30 September each specified year
Headcount
2000 12,827
2001 13,053
2002 12,774

Notes:

1. A new classification of the non-medical workforce was introduced in 1995.

2. Information based on this classification is not directly comparable with earlier years.

Source:

Department of Health Non-medical Workforce Census

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