asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will list the numbers employed in the National Health Service in the following categories for the years 1971 to 1974 and estimates for 1975 and 1976; hospital nurses and midwives—all grades, including students; hospital doctors and consultants—all grades and specialities; hospital domestic staff, all grades; all other hospital ancillary staff, all grades; hospital administrators and clerks, all grades; hospital professional and technical staff, all specialities; all other hospital staff grades not included above; health visitors; district nurses and mid-wives; and all other staff employed in community health.
It is not possible to make meaningful estimates of staff employed in the National Health Service since detailed decisions about staffing levels are taken by the individual Health Authorities in the light of available resources and priorities. The actual figures for 1975 are currently being collected and processed.
| NUMBERS EMPLOYED IN NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE 1971–74 | ||||
| ENGLAND-WHOLE TIME EQUIVALENTS (WTE) | ||||
| 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | |
| (a) Hospital Nurses and Midwives | 247,008 | 263,308 | 266,991 | 272,235 |
| (b) Hospital Medical Staff (includes staff in Mass Radiography Units and Blood Transfusion Centres)* | 22,644 | 23,774 | 24,912 | 25,708 |
| (c) Hospital Domestic Staff | 75,105 | 75,004 | 74,435 | 74,254 |
| (d)Other Hospital Ancillary Staff (includes Staff in Mass Radiography Units and Blood Transfusion Centres) | 90,861 | 90,295 | 88,282 | 86,148 |
| (e) Hospital Administrative and Clerical Staff (includes Staff in Mass Radiography Units and Blood Transfusion Centres) | 45,886 | 48,778 | 52,425 | 57,272 |
| (f) Hospital Professional and Technical Staff (includes Staff in Mass Radiography Units and Blood Transfusion Centres) | 35,268 | 37,140 | 38,972 | 38,095† |
| (g) Other Hospital Staff: | ||||
| (i) Hospital Dental Staff | 712 | 739 | 742 | 789 |
| (ii) Hospital Support Services Managers (Domestic, Laundry, Farms and Gardens, Catering, CSSD Managers, Storekeeper, Clerks etc.) | 4,066 | 4,347 | 4,562 | 4,865 |
| (iii) Hospital Maintenance Staff | 16,684 | 17,408 | 16,953 | 17,643 |
| (iv) Hospital Works Staff | 2,398 | 2,509 | 2,590 | 2,527 |
| (v) Nursing Cadets | 6,703 | 6,532 | 5,910 | 4,563 |
| (h) Regional Health Authority Headquarters Staff | 6,200 | 6,872 | 7,164 | 7,352 |
| (i) Health Visitors (including Trainees) | 6,727 | 7,095 | 7,208 | 7,411 |
| (j) District Nurses (including Trainees) | 9,069 | 9,535 | 10,220 | 10,827 |
| (k) Community Midwives (including Pupils) | 5,051 | 4,954 | 4,854 | 4,237 |
| (l) Other Community Health Staff (including School Health and Ambulance Staff) | 42,824 | 43,603 | 45,579 | 46,657 |
| * Figures exclude locums and paragraph 94 appointments (i.e. GPs who work part of their time in hospitals). | ||||
| † This figure excludes social workers (2,349 WTE in 1973) who were transferred to social services departments in 1974. | ||||
asked the Secretary of State for Social Service what are the main differences in contributions, elements of pay taken into account in assessing contributions, benefits, the respective degree of inflation-proofing and its date of commencement, the respective numbers in each scheme, and the respective cost in the last available year between the manual and staff pension schemes in the National Health Service; and whether any steps are currently being taken to reduce any differences between schemes.
The National Health Service superannuation scheme is a single pension scheme covering both manual and non-manual employees as well as doctors and dentists in general practice. Except for contribution rates the conditions of the scheme including arrangements for
The information requested in respect of the years 1971–74 is given in the table below:
inflation proofing are the same for all members. The employee contribution rate for manuals is 5 per cent. and that for the remainder 6 per cent. I have no proposals at present for changing these rates.
At 31st March 1974 there were about 100,000 manual employees and about 350,000 others in the scheme.
Since pensions are calculated on identical bases no separate figures of the sums paid to former manual and non-manual employees are maintained.