Cancer: Nurses

(asked on 15th May 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the adequacy of the size of the cancer nursing workforce.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 22nd May 2018

Health Education England (HEE) published its first ever cancer workforce plan in December 2017, which commits to the expansion of capacity and skills. The Plan states that HEE will support the expansion of Cancer Nurse Specialists (CNS) by developing national competencies and a clear route into training, so that every patient has access to a CNS or other support worker by 2021. HEE will work with partners to identify and develop clear career pathways into the CNS role as part of a wider review of the contribution nurses can make to cancer.

A more detailed report on nursing and cancer using learning from the recently published Macmillan Specialist Adult Cancer Nurse Census will be contained in phase 2 of the cancer workforce strategy, which will be published by HEE for consultation in the summer.

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