Written question asked by Mark Francois (Conservative) on Friday, 14 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 18 November 2003. It was answered by Stephen Ladyman (Labour) on Tuesday, 18 November 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the vacancy figure for district nurses in Essex was on 1st September. - Inc table.

Answer: Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the vacancy figure for district nurses in Essex was on 1 September. [139521] Dr. Ladyman: The total number of vacancies are not held centrally. However, I am advised that information for three month vacancies is collected and the data currently available is as at 31 March 2003. Vacancies for all district nurses in the Essex Strategic Health Authority area and three month vacancy rates, numbers and staff in post are shown in the table. District Nurses _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Three Month vacancy rate-- Three month vacancy number Staff in post (whole-time Staff in post (headcount) percentage equivalent) March 2003 September 2002 5.8 20 407 512 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Sources: Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2003. Department of Health Non-Midical Workforce Census, September 2002.

Secondary information