Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust in Chelmsford to meet cancer waiting times and ensure people with cancer receive timely care.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

Improving cancer waiting times for patients is a high priority for the Government.

We are seeking to achieve this goal through the increased use of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) which will increase the available capacity and bring healthcare closer to the community. CDCs are now delivering additional tests and checks on 170 sites across the country, with 103 of these being open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, offering at least one test in expanded hours, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around their busy working lives.

The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust is the local provider for cancer services in Chelmsford, has been awarded funding for a replacement radiotherapy machine.

The National Cancer Plan, which is due to be published soon, will set out how we will increase performance against our standards, speed up diagnosis and treatment, and ultimately provide better outcomes for cancer patients. It will ensure patients, including those in Chelmsford, have access to the latest treatments and technology and improve patient experience and outcomes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust in Chelmsford to recruit and retain specialist cancer nurses and cancer workforce.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The Government and NHS England are acting to ensure that we train the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it including at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSEFT).

In 2024/25, an estimated 8,000 people received training to either enter the cancer and diagnostics workforce or develop in their roles.

NHS England has also been expanding specialty training places in key professions, including histopathology, clinical radiology, and gastroenterology. Targeted national campaigns and outreach activities, for example in clinical oncology, also promote cancer career pathways, with a focus on increasing applications.

Additionally, NHS England Workforce, Training and Education and the East of England Cancer Alliance work closely with MSEFT to understand local training needs. Together, they coordinate and allocate funding to ensure the cancer nursing workforce has access to the development pathways it requires, supporting both recruitment and long-term retention.

MSEFT is preparing to launch an oncology nursing rotation across oncology wards, the chemotherapy unit and clinical nurse specialist (CNS) teams. Many of these CNS roles sit within the cancer division, supporting the development of competencies, and enable structured career progression for nurses alongside programmes of reform for workforce.

To improve retention, NHS England is investing in structured career development and education support. The Aspirant Cancer Career and Education Development programme provides a nationally agreed framework for capability, career development, and education for nurses, allied health professionals, and the support workforce working in cancer care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that the National Cancer Plan tackles identity-based disparities in cancer care, including for people from (a) ethnic minority backgrounds, (b) disabled people and (c) LGBTQ+ communities.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention, research, and innovation. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experiences and outcomes for all people with cancer.

Reducing inequalities is also a key priority for the National Cancer Plan. The plan will look at the targeted improvements needed across different cancer types to reduce disparities in cancer survival and will develop interventions to tackle these. This includes looking at protected characteristics such as disability, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, as well as inequalities related to socioeconomic status, and geographic location.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department plans to engage key stakeholders on the assumptions underpinning the modelling of workforce numbers in the 10 Year Workforce Plan.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will include updated workforce modelling and its underlying assumptions when published in spring 2026. The updated workforce modelling will be supported by independent external scrutiny to assess and test it.

We are committed to engagement with external stakeholders. On 26 September 2025, we launched a formal call for evidence, which provided stakeholders the opportunity to contribute directly to the Plan’s development. This closed on 7 November 2025. The submissions to our call for evidence are being analysed to inform the development of the plan.

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