Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of trained interventional radiologists in the NHS.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of October 2022, there were 1,588 full-time equivalent doctors in training in the clinical radiology specialty in the National Health Service in England. This is an increase of 252, 18.9%, since 2019.
The Government funded an additional 20 Specialty Training year six (ST6) places for interventional radiologists in 2021/22 and 2022/23. These increases in the overall radiology workforce will increase the number of radiologists who can train to deliver interventional radiology and expand national capacity for the paediatric interventional radiology workforce.
To support the workforce as a whole, we have commissioned NHS England to develop a Long Term Workforce Plan, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years. The Plan is for the whole of the NHS workforce, it will not provide detailed workforce assessments for individual services.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the impact of unequal access to paediatric interventional radiology services on (a) survival rates and (b) life-long health complications for children eligible for this care.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group (CRG) provides clinical leadership and advice to NHS England and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Group, including on paediatric imaging and interventional radiology. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Programme of Care, the CRG and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) have had to prioritise surgery restoration and recovery, however, the issues linked to the concerns raised about access to interventional radiology are to be presented to the Women and Children’s Programme of Care on the 28 June 2023 and will also be presented to ODNs to incorporate into their respective network work programmes during 2023/24.
Equal access will also be the subject of discussions between NHS England and the Department.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of The Royal College of Radiologists’ findings that there are (a) 12 consultant paediatric interventional radiology posts in the UK and (b) five paediatric interventional radiology posts based outside London; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the number of those posts.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will be discussing the geographic spread of posts with NHS England.
I have agreed to meet the Royal College of Radiologists so this matter will also be discussed in a meeting with them.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the number of of paediatric interventional radiologists employed per million children in the (a) NHS and (b) US.
Answered by Will Quince
The Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group (CRG) provides clinical leadership and advice to NHS England and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Group, including on paediatric imaging and interventional radiology. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Programme of Care, the CRG and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) have had to prioritise surgery restoration and recovery, however, the issues linked to the concerns raised about access to interventional radiology are to be presented to the Women and Children’s Programme of Care on the 28 June 2023 and will also be presented to ODNs to incorporate into their respective network work programmes during 2023/24.
The number of paediatric interventional radiologists will also be the subject of discussions between NHS England and the Department.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken steps to (a) increase access to paediatric interventional radiology services and (b) ensure that every hospital has a strategy for dealing with out-of-hours emergencies requiring those services since 2010.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Surgery in Children Clinical Reference Group (CRG) provides clinical leadership and advice to NHS England and the Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Group, including on paediatric imaging and interventional radiology. Since the COVID-19 pandemic surgery restoration and recovery have been prioritised, however, the issues linked to access to interventional radiology are to be presented to the Women and Children’s Programme of Care on the 28 June 2023 and will also be presented to Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Networks to incorporate into their respective work programmes during 2023/24.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase the tariffs applied to paediatric interventional radiology procedures.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This will be subject to discussions with NHS England as tariffs are set by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) paediatric interventional radiology (PIR) inclusion in all relevant NHS service specifications and (b) PIR policies in all hospitals that treat children.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England. National Health Service trusts are expected to have the relevant policies in place, in line with service specification and commissioning guidance produced by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to require all hospitals that provide paediatric services to have paediatric interventional radiology service policies in place.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England. National Health Service trusts are expected to have the relevant policies in place, in line with service specification and commissioning guidance produced by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring all hospitals that provide paediatric services to have paediatric interventional radiology service policies in place.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England. National Health Service trusts are expected to have the relevant policies in place, in line with service specification and commissioning guidance produced by NHS England.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to facilitate equal access to paediatric interventional radiology services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will discuss these issues with NHS England. National Health Service trusts are expected to have the relevant policies in place, in line with service specification and commissioning guidance produced by NHS England.