Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a dentistry workforce strategy.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for key workforce groups and professions across the NHS for the next 15 years, including dental care professionals. The conclusions of this work will be shared in due course.
With the changes announced to the National Health Service Dental Contract Reform in July, we are making improvements to the NHS dental system for patients to get the care they need. This includes new legislation that came into force in November, which more fairly remunerates dentists caring for patients with complex needs and makes the NHS dental contract more attractive to dentists.
We are also working with NHS England and the sector on longer-term improvements. Health Education England have undertaken a three-year Advancing Dental Care Review of education and training which they are now implementing through their Dental Education Reform Programme to improve recruitment and retention.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) recruitment and (b) retainment of (i) nurses, (ii) doctors, (iii) dentists and (iv) medical technicians.
Answered by Will Quince
We are on schedule to deliver an additional 50,000 nurses by the end of March 2024, with a further 32,000 nurses currently working in the National Health Service, compared with September 2019. The Government has funded an additional 1,500 medical school places each year for domestic students in England, which was completed in September 2020 and delivered five new medical schools. The first graduates from this expansion entered foundation training in August 2022.
Health Education England has undertaken a three-year review of education and training, which is being implemented through the Dental Education Reform Programme. In July 2022, we announced measures to reform NHS dental services to increase access for patients and remunerate dentists fairly for caring for patients with complex needs. We are also working with NHS England and the sector on longer-term improvements to make NHS dentistry a more appealing place to work.
Emergency medical technician training is undertaken through an apprenticeship qualification whilst employed in an ambulance service trust. Some EMTs can progress to a registered paramedic through additional education programmes.
NHS England’s retention programme seeks to understand why staff leave and provide targeted interventions to support staff to stay, with each trust required to have in place retention action plans that will target support where needed locally. The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department takes to increase the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals in the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
As of September 2022, there were more than 1.2 million full-time equivalent staff working in the National Health Service. We are also on schedule to deliver an additional 50,000 more nurses by 2024. The NHS People Plan sets out a focus on creating a more modern, compassionate and inclusive culture through improved health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and flexible working. NHS England continues to support systems to develop tailored health and wellbeing offers to meet the needs of local workforces.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the findings of the Royal College of Radiologists Insight Panel survey, conducted in October 2022, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that targets for patient waiting times for diagnoses are met during winter 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Health Service is developing initiatives to address retention, staff health and wellbeing, options to return to work following retirement and ensuring the current workforce has the appropriate skills and training. The Department is working with NHS England on rapid international recruitment and the utilisation of support workers across professions. We are also expanding the digital passport scheme, which allows professionals to work across trusts.
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology. This has supported the development of 91 community diagnostic centres (CDCs), with plans for 160 CDCs by 2025. CDCs have provided more than 2.25 million tests to date. In 2022/23, we have provided £15 million for additional imaging equipment for acute diagnostic imaging departments, which will deliver a further 37,000 tests during the winter in 30 NHS trusts and more than 160,000 tests in 2023/24. We are also upgrading 200 magnetic resonance imaging scanners to increase capacity.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the findings of the Royal College of Radiologists Insight Panel survey, conducted in October 2022, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the NHS (a) has sufficient staff to meet demand for and (b) is prepared for additional pressure on diagnostic services during winter 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Health Service is developing initiatives to address retention, staff health and wellbeing, options to return to work following retirement and ensuring the current workforce has the appropriate skills and training. The Department is working with NHS England on rapid international recruitment and the utilisation of support workers across professions. We are also expanding the digital passport scheme, which allows professionals to work across trusts.
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology. This has supported the development of 91 community diagnostic centres (CDCs), with plans for 160 CDCs by 2025. CDCs have provided more than 2.25 million tests to date. In 2022/23, we have provided £15 million for additional imaging equipment for acute diagnostic imaging departments, which will deliver a further 37,000 tests during the winter in 30 NHS trusts and more than 160,000 tests in 2023/24. We are also upgrading 200 magnetic resonance imaging scanners to increase capacity.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming NHS England long-term workforce plan will include a specific plan for (a) midwifery and (b) other occupations within the maternity care team.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan. The plan will consider the number of staff and the roles required and will set out the actions and reforms needed to improve workforce supply and retention. The plan will review all National Health Service professions, including midwifery and other occupations within the maternity care team.
In 2022, an additional £127 million has been invested in the National Health Service maternity workforce and improving neonatal care, including in York Central. This is in addition to the £95 million invested in 2021 to fund a further 1,200 midwives and 100 consultant obstetricians. We have provided approximately £450,000 to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to develop a new workforce planning tool to improve how maternity units calculate medical staffing requirements.
NHS England is working with the Department and the Nursing and Midwifery Council to support midwifery international recruitment and Health Education England is working with stakeholders to implement an increase of 3,650 midwifery student places by the end of 2022/23.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to bring forward a workforce strategy for the dental sector which includes (a) NHS, (b) mixed and (c) private dentist practices.
Answered by Will Quince
In July 2022, we announced measures to reform National Health Service dental services to increase access for patients and remunerate dentists fairly for caring for patients with complex needs. We are also working with NHS England and the sector on longer-term improvements. Health Education England has undertaken a three-year review of education and training which is being implemented through the Dental Education Reform Programme to improve recruitment and retention.
The Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for workforce groups and professions in the NHS for the next 15 years, which will include dental care professionals. The conclusions of this work will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 27 June (HL1046), what plans they have to record data on the number of health care professionals who were hired from countries graded as red by the World Health Organisation.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We have no plans to do so.
We collate data from published sources to monitor the patterns of staff joining the National Health Service who have trained outside the United Kingdom. This includes data from the the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s register and the Electronic Staff Record’s information on the nationality of staff.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using other health professionals, in addition to pharmacists, to support primary care to meet the level of demand.
Answered by James Morris
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 sets out how community pharmacy will support the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan. Services have been introduced in community pharmacies to relieve pressures on general practitioners (GPs), such as the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service, which allows staff in general practices and NHS 111 to refer patients to community pharmacies for advice and treatment of minor illnesses. The majority of community pharmacies also offer blood pressure checks and support for patients who have been prescribed specific new medicines. Negotiations are continuing on additional services which could be delivered by the sector.
The General Pharmaceutical Council is responsible for setting education and training requirements for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Great Britain. Following a review in 2021, the Council introduced new standards for pharmacist initial education and training which will ensure that all new pharmacists entering the profession will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to deliver additional clinical roles and provision of healthcare services, including enhanced learning to become independent prescribers upon registration.
Health Education England (HEE) and NHS England are also investing a further £15.9 million over the next four years to increase the number of pharmacy staff in primary and community care and develop skills in the existing workforce.
Primary Care Networks (PCNs) can access the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to improve access to advice and care through a range of professionals and services. PCNs receive full reimbursement for the recruitment of a variety of professions, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physiotherapists and social prescribers. NHS England and HEE are supporting PCNs with training and supervision of these roles to reduce GPs’ workload.
The Pharmacy Integration Programme is part of a wider education reform for pharmacy professionals. Career pathways for pharmacy professionals are being identified across sectors and increasingly within multi-professional integrated health and care teams.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the competencies that trainee pharmacists need to develop to provide a more comprehensive service in healthcare.
Answered by James Morris
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 sets out how community pharmacy will support the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan. Services have been introduced in community pharmacies to relieve pressures on general practitioners (GPs), such as the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service, which allows staff in general practices and NHS 111 to refer patients to community pharmacies for advice and treatment of minor illnesses. The majority of community pharmacies also offer blood pressure checks and support for patients who have been prescribed specific new medicines. Negotiations are continuing on additional services which could be delivered by the sector.
The General Pharmaceutical Council is responsible for setting education and training requirements for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Great Britain. Following a review in 2021, the Council introduced new standards for pharmacist initial education and training which will ensure that all new pharmacists entering the profession will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to deliver additional clinical roles and provision of healthcare services, including enhanced learning to become independent prescribers upon registration.
Health Education England (HEE) and NHS England are also investing a further £15.9 million over the next four years to increase the number of pharmacy staff in primary and community care and develop skills in the existing workforce.
Primary Care Networks (PCNs) can access the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to improve access to advice and care through a range of professionals and services. PCNs receive full reimbursement for the recruitment of a variety of professions, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physiotherapists and social prescribers. NHS England and HEE are supporting PCNs with training and supervision of these roles to reduce GPs’ workload.
The Pharmacy Integration Programme is part of a wider education reform for pharmacy professionals. Career pathways for pharmacy professionals are being identified across sectors and increasingly within multi-professional integrated health and care teams.