Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will include provisions in the NHS workforce plan to increase the nuclear medicines workforce; and what steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of supply of that workforce to meet future demand for (a) molecular radiotherapy and (b) other treatments.

The Government has committed to publishing the Long-Term Workforce Plan shortly. This will include projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed, taking full account of improvements in retention and productivity. This plan will help ensure that we have the right numbers of staff, with the right skills, to transform and deliver high quality services fit for the future.

NHS England are currently leading work to revise the Brachytherapy and Molecular Radiotherapy Service Specification and to understand current service readiness to expand access to new molecular radiotherapy treatments, should they be approved by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.