The aims of this study were as follows : 1) To identify changes over time in the characteristics and deployment of hospital nurses in the Scottish Health Service, and place these changes in the context of changes in the general structure and functioning of the National Health Service; 2) to examine these changes for evidence of systematic relationships between variations in the rates of change or levels of provision and other factors such as hospital size, occupancy rate, etc. Variables Staff-patient ratio for main groups of staff, by hospital; hospital type, size and activity statistics; hospital aggregate and unit running costs.