asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many community psychiatric nurses were in post for the three most recent years for which figures are available.
Community psychiatric nursing staff are not separately identified in staffing returns to my Department. Community psychiatric nursing services by the nursing staff of mental illness hospitals and units amounted to the whole-time equivalent of 515 and 669—provisional—nursing staff in September 1975 and 1976 respectively. Comparable figures were not collected before 1975.
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many community psychiatric nurses are in post for each region; and how many this represents per 100,000 population.
Community psychiatric nursing staff are not separately identified in staffing returns to my Department. The provision of community psychiatric nursing services by the nursing staff of mental illness hospitals and units in September 1976 amounted to the whole-time staff equivalents listed below, expressed in terms of numbers per 100,000 population in each region Later figures are not available.
| Region | Provisional number (whole-time equivalent) | Per 100,000 population | |
| Northern | … | 18 | 0·57 |
| Yorkshire | … | 25 | 0·69 |
| Trent | … | 41 | 0·91 |
| Fast Anglian | … | 26 | 1·42 |
| N.W. Thames | … | 62 | 1·80 |
| N.E. Thames | … | 46 | 1·23 |
| S.E. Thames* | … | 59 | 1·64 |
| S.W. Thames | … | 50 | 1·73 |
| Wessex | … | 77 | 2·90 |
| Oxford | … | 33 | 1·48 |
| South Western | … | 49 | 1·55 |
| West Midlands | … | 66 | 1·27 |
| Mersey | … | 40 | 1·61 |
| North Western | … | 78 | 1·93 |
| * Includes data relating to Bethlem Royal and Maudsley (Board of Governors) Hospital. | |||
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether there are plans to increase the number of community psychiatric nurses in post; by how many; and by what date.
The development of community psychiatric nursing services as part of the district psychiatric nursing service is recommended in paragraph 9.13 of the White Paper "Better Services for the Mentally Ill" (Cmnd. 6233). In the context of this year's planning exercise, I am reminding regional health authorities of the growing importance of these services as an essential element in the district psychiatric nursing service. My information is that an increasing number of community psychiatric nurses are being appointed. I regret that national figures are not available.