To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of nurses employed by the national health service in 1960 , 1970, 1980 and 1990, or the latest date available and the number of occupied national health service hospital beds for each date, showing the nurse to occupied bed ratio in each case.
[holding answer 12 November 1990]: The available information is given in the table. Figures for the earlier years cannot be provided on a comparable basis. There is no direct comparison between the manpower and the occupied bed information. The manpower figures relate to the total numbers of nursing and midwifery staff employed in the NHS hospital and community services. However, occupied beds relate to the hospital service only and are not a particularly meaningful measurement of service provision.
| NHS nursing and midwifery staff and average number of beds occupied daily—England | ||
| Number and wholetime equivalents1 | ||
| Year | Nursing and midwifery at September2 | Average number of beds occupied daily |
| 1980 | 370,100 | 289,500 |
| 1986 | 402,700 | 254,600 |
| 1989 | 405,300 | 3— |
Source: Department of Health (SM13) Annual Census of NHS Non-Medical Manpower and SH3 Returns.
1 All figures are independently rounded to the nearest hundred (100).
2 Includes all qualified nurses and midwives, learners and unqualified nursing staff and agency staff.
3 Information not available centrally beyond 1986.