Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has in place to increase the number of specialists trained in endovascular thrombectomy treatment.

In England, Health Education England (HEE) is supporting NHS England’s National Stroke Programme to support the education and training of the healthcare workforce in England to deliver stroke care, and this includes increasing the number of medical professionals able to carry out mechanical thrombectomy procedures. The interim NHS People Plan committed to the development of a credential for mechanical thrombectomy, to support the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan. HEE will work with the Royal College of Radiologists who are developing a medical credential, and work is expected to be completed later in 2019. The Royal College of Radiologists’ remit is throughout the United Kingdom.

Staff numbers, education and training in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland is a matter for each of the devolved administrations in that country.