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Dept of Health

Answer

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that every cancer patient within the NHS receives treatment from surgeons and physicians who are specialists in their field; and by when he expects this target to be met. [75774] Ms Blears: All doctors must work within the limits of their professional competence, as required by General Medical Council (GMC) guidance, Good Medical Practice. Doctors should not therefore be given or take on responsibility for patients if they are not competent to do so. This is to ensure that patients receive the highest quality of care and have the best chances of making a full recovery. The National Health Service in England employs doctors in training grades who are not yet qualified to work independently and staff grade doctors, some of whom are trained specialists. NHS Consultants supervise the work of all of these doctors and are responsible for the care patients receive. Consultants are all trained specialists included on the Specialist Register held by the GMC. The Department and more recently the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), has produced Improving Outcomes Guidance (IOG) on how services should be organised for specific types of cancer. The guidance includes recommendations on areas including the establishment of specialist multidisciplinary teams. Targets for the implementation of IOG form part of the priorities and planning framework. The NHS Cancer Plan set out a target of providing nearly 1,000 extra cancer specialists by 2006. The NHS is on track to meet this target with an extra 500 cancer consultants between 1999 and 2002.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

75774; 392 c490W;392 c502W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Cancer Medical treatments Patients Standards

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk