Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include plans to increase the number of rheumatology (a) consultants and (b) clinical nurse specialists in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

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 for the whole of the National Health Service workforce. It will not provide detailed workforce assessments for individual services or staff groups.

As of January 2023, there are 694 consultants working in the rheumatology specialism in NHS trusts and commissioning bodies in England. This is an increase of 19 since last year.