Written question asked by Kevin Hughes (Labour) on Monday, 15 December 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 January 2004. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Monday, 12 January 2004 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures his Department has put in place to counter the shortages of (a) transplant consultants and (b) critical care nurses in the NHS outlined in the Transplant Framework for England, Saving Lives, Valuing Donors. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Kevin Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department has put in place to counter the shortages of (a) transplant consultants and (b) critical care nurses in the NHS outlined in the Transplant Framework for England, Saving Lives, Valuing Donors. [144891] Ms Rosie Winterton: The NHS Plan set challenging workforce objectives to increase staff numbers significantly and redesign jobs with more staff working differently. The Department has arranged for 11 additional surgical training places to be funded specifically to train transplant surgeons. Between September 1999 and March 2002, a net increase of 28,740 nurses working in the national health service has meant the NHS Plan target for nurses, 20,000 by 2004, has been achieved early. The NHS has a plan to recruit an additional 35,000 nurses by 2008-- a proportion of whom will be working in critical care.

Secondary information