Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve the level of consultant staffing in pathology departments to meed the target of 98% of histopathology tests to be reported within 10 days by March 2029, as specified in the National Cancer Plan.

The Department is taking action to ensure sufficient provision of the histopathology workforce. As of April 2026, there were over 1,400 full-time equivalent consultants working in histopathology in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England. This is almost 50, or 3.5%, more than in April 2025.

NHS England is expanding histopathology training places and has increased trainee numbers since 2020. Additional actions that have been taken include long-term investment in training, greater flexibility and access to education programmes, training grants, retaining senior expertise through the retire and return for teaching programme, and expanding teaching and training fellowships to support workforce growth.

Alongside workforce expansion, NHS England is increasing productivity through the adoption of digital pathology, service automation, and demand optimisation. These measures, together with consistent standards, modernised assessments to support trainee progression, and retention initiatives, will help ensure the workforce can meet growing demand and support delivery of the National Cancer Plan's ambition for 98% of histopathology tests to be reported within 10 days by March 2029.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.