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Dept of Health

Answer

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many trained cancer specialists are practising in England; how many cancer specialist students began training in each year since 1997; how many cancer specialists qualified in each year since 1997; and what his assessment is of the optimum number of cancer specialists required by the national health service. [138918] Mr. Hutton: As at 30 June 2003, there were 4,096 consultants in the cancer specialties (trained cancer specialists) working in the national health service in England. As undergraduates, medical students do not undertake training in specific specialties, their medical training is of a general nature at this stage of their course. Specialty specific training begins in hospital at postgraduate level. Information on the number of doctors beginning and completing speciality training each year is not collected centrally. The number of postgraduate doctors in training and consultants in the cancer specialties for each year since 1997 is shown in the table. Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS) Staff Consultants and Doctors in training in cancer specialities England, as at 30 September Number (headcount) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 March 2002 2002 March 2003 June 2003 Consultants 3,155 3,273 3,362 3,528 3,721 3,864 3,913 4,059 4,096 Doctors in training 1,531 1,622 1,799 1,896 2,111 -- 2,281 -- -- Of which: Senior House Officer 332 346 375 375 423 -- 449 -- -- House Officer 20 22 22 42 21 -- 23 -- -- Registrar Group 1,179 1,254 1,402 1,479 1,667 -- 1,809 -- -- _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Notes: 1. Cancer specialties includes Clinical Oncology, Clinical Radiology, Haematology, Histopathology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Medicine. 2. Doctors in training data was not collected in the March or June 2003 mini census. Source: Department of Health Medical and Dental Workforce Census. The Cancer Plan gives a commitment to increase the number of cancer consultants working in the NHS by 1,000 by 2006. Since 1999 the number of cancer consultants has increased by 734, or 22 per cent. This means that the NHS is on track to hit the Cancer Plan target. The National Cancer Director works closely with cancer networks, professional organisations and workforce development confederations to ensure that national decisions about workforce planning reflect the needs of the service.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

413 c1362-3W;413 c1358-9W; 138918

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Cancer Consultants Doctors NHS Staff Training

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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