Written question asked by Huw Edwards (Labour) on Wednesday, 16 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 22 March 2005. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 March 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he will take to increase the number of specialists in interventional radiology.

Answer: Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he will take to increase the number of specialists in interventional radiology. [223216] Mr. Hutton: A range of initiatives are in place to help expand the national health service work force, including the number of clinical radiologists who undertake interventional radiological procedures. These initiatives include improving pay and conditions, encouraging the NHS to become a better, more flexible and diverse employer, help with accessing child care, increasing training, attracting back returners and running national and international recruitment campaigns. In addition, we are aiming to further boost consultant numbers by centrally funding up to 226 additional specialist registrar places in clinical radiology between 2002-03 and 2005-06. Up to 60 of these additional posts are for the new clinical radiology academies set to modernise training in clinical radiology in 2005-06.

Secondary information