Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has for (a) workforce planning and (b) investment to ensure there is diagnostic capacity for breast cancer in the NHS.

On 5 December 2017, Health Education England published a comprehensive cancer workforce plan, developed with NHS England. This plan focuses on the actions needed to ensure that there is enough staff with the right skills to deliver the activity set out in the Cancer Taskforce Strategy, by 2021. The plan includes investment in 300 reporting radiographers by 2021 but it is not just about increasing numbers, it is about supporting staff to develop new skills and enabling them to work differently.

The Cancer Workforce Plan is available at:

https://hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Cancer%20Workforce%20Plan.pdf