Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) rheumatology healthcare professionals in the NHS and (b) the provision of treatment for people with rheumatology of the UK leaving the EU.

NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.

The information in the following table shows the number of Professionally qualified clinical staff in National Health Service trusts and CCGs in England in the rheumatology specialty group and the wider rheumatology area of work by nationality group, as at 30 June each year from 2016 and the latest available data, headcount:

Source: NHS Digital Quarterly HCHS workforce statistics.

The Department continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels across the NHS and we are working across Government to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high-quality services on which patients rely following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. This includes the provision of treatment for people with rheumatology.