Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the extent of rota gaps across the NHS workforce.

This information is not collected centrally. As part of the implementation of the new contract for junior doctors, all trusts are reviewing their rotas to ensure that they are compliant with the new limits on working hours and patterns. This will shine a light on rota gaps and trusts will need to take appropriate action to deal with any issues arising. The Guardians of Safe Working Hours, now in place in all trusts, will report to trust Boards on the issue of rota gaps within junior doctor rotas. Where serious issues are not addressed, concerns will be escalated, potentially to the Care Quality Commission and the General Medical Council.