Cancer: Nurses

(asked on 5th July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to increase the size of the cancer nursing workforce to help tackle the cancer treatment backlog; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 26th July 2021

The Spending Review 2020 provided £260 million to continue to increase the National Health Service workforce and support commitments made in the NHS Long Term Plan, including the Cancer Workforce Plan phase one published by Health Education England (HEE) in 2017. In 2020/21, HEE is prioritising the training of 400 clinical endoscopists and 450 reporting radiographers. Training grants are being offered for 250 nurses to become cancer nurse specialists and 100 chemotherapy nurses, training 58 biomedical scientists, developing an advanced clinical practice qualification in oncology and extending cancer support-worker training.

HEE is facilitating a number of initiatives to increase clinical nurse specialist capacity which will help tackle the elective backlog, including the development of cancer nurses, through provision of 250 training grants of up to £5,000 each in 2020/21. The grants are aimed at existing and aspiring cancer nurse specialists to enable them to undertake additional training to develop specialist clinical, leadership, education or research capabilities.

Discussions with HM Treasury on any multi-year settlement will take place within the Spending Review process.

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