Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the Government is doing to support endoscopy units to ensure that there is sufficient capacity in resources and staff for the roll-out of the bowel scope screening programme.

Between May 2010 and November 2014, we have seen a 29.1% increase in consultant gastroenterologists, from 1,788 to 2,302.

Delivering high quality, effective, compassionate care: Developing the right people with the right skills and the right values - A mandate from the Government to Health Education England: April 2014 to March 2015 states that Health Education England (HEE) will work with key partners to ensure that the National Health Service has available the right number of trained staff to deliver current and future demand for diagnostic tests. In particular, HEE will work with Public Health England and NHS England to ensure the availability of sufficient endoscopists to deliver bowel scope screening.

A Joint Endoscopy Working Group, set up by NHS England's National Clinical Director for Diagnostics and Imaging, has been analysing the latest data, and an action plan is being developed to ensure sufficient capacity in the short and long term. The action plan will cover a wide range of organisations including HEE, NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and providers of endoscopy services. Potential actions identified include: developing robust endoscopy capacity and demand data; a national workforce strategy for endoscopy; supporting the training of non-medical endoscopists; including sufficient endoscopy capacity in business planning; and identifying new pathways and models of working.

In addition NHS Improving Quality has developed The Productive Endoscopy Series, a set of self-directed learning resources that will help all staff working in endoscopy units to make better use of existing resources and deliver a more efficient and effective service to patients seven days a week.