Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) blood cancer clinical nurses employed and (b) vacant blood cancer clinical nurse specialist posts there are in the NHS; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of developing of a new blood cancer support role.

Information on the number of blood cancer clinical nurse specialists employed in the National Health Service, and the number of vacant posts, is not held centrally.

The NHS has been facing chronic workforce shortages for years, and we have to be honest that bringing in the staff we need will take time.  We are committed to training the staff we need to get patients seen on time.  To achieve this, we will reform the NHS to deliver more care in the community and more preventative care.

As we fix the NHS, we will deliver the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, so patients, including blood cancer patients, are always cared for by the relevant, qualified healthcare professionals.