Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time for patients to see a NHS physiotherapist.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Physiotherapy services are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups. This includes agreeing and monitoring the waiting time to access services rather than this being set nationally.
A count of first outpatient attendances and the average (mean and median) waiting time in days, where the treatment specialty is physiotherapy, is shown in the following table. Data is for the 2018-19 financial year.
Year | First attendances | Mean waiting time (days) | Median waiting time (days) |
2018-19 | 1,404,639 | 36.7 | 25 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (NHS Digital)
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the target waiting time for an appointment with an NHS physiotherapist.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Physiotherapy services are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups. This includes agreeing and monitoring the waiting time to access services rather than this being set nationally.
A count of first outpatient attendances and the average (mean and median) waiting time in days, where the treatment specialty is physiotherapy, is shown in the following table. Data is for the 2018-19 financial year.
Year | First attendances | Mean waiting time (days) | Median waiting time (days) |
2018-19 | 1,404,639 | 36.7 | 25 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (NHS Digital)
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many physiotherapists are employed by the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), but not staff working in primary care, local authorities or other providers.
As at September 2019, the latest available data, there were 19,977 full time equivalent physiotherapists employed in National Health Service trusts and CCGs.
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many physiotherapists are required by the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Following publication of the interim People Plan on 3 June 2019, a full NHS People Plan is in development. This will set out the workforce implications for all staff groups, including physiotherapists, in delivering the NHS Long Term Plan priorities.
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of physiotherapists employed in the private sector.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS Digital publishes data biannually on staff in some independent sector healthcare organisations in England, mainly data from large organisations. The latest available data as at March 2019, shows that there are 2,270 full time equivalent (FTE) physiotherapists in 56 independent sector organisations which provided data. The data presented for the independent healthcare provider workforce does not represent the entire workforce employed across the whole of this sector and does not only show the staff providing National Health Service-commissioned services. These statistics relate to the workforce directly employed in a range of independent healthcare provider organisations in England and may include staff on maternity leave and career breaks.
Independent healthcare provider workforce: qualified staff working within the care setting 'physiotherapy' as at 31 March 2019, experimental statistics.
All qualified staff working within the care setting 'physiotherapy' | 2,270 |
Consultant therapist/scientist in physiotherapy | - |
Manager in physiotherapy | 178 |
Therapist in physiotherapy | 2,080 |
Instructor/teacher in physiotherapy | 9 |
Tutor in physiotherapy | 3 |
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in deciding what number of occupational health staff are needed by the NHS in England to implement their proposals to facilitate the retention or return to work of those employees with long-term health conditions.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government launched a consultation on 15 July 2019, Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss, which includes proposals for actions to improve occupational health access for workers. One aspect of this proposal is for Government action to contribute to the development of a sustainable occupational health workforce.
A copy of the consultation is attached.
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many radiographers are employed by the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
In the Cancer Workforce Plan for England which was published in December 2017, Health Education England (HEE) set out the need to target additional training support.
As part of the development of the NHS People Plan, HEE will now work with NHS England and NHS Improvement to understand the longer-term workforce implications for further development of cancer services. This will include ensuring sustainable growth beyond 2021 in key professions (including radiography) through continued investment in training places, with a greater focus on attracting and retaining students and improving the numbers of qualified professionals who go on to work in the National Health Service. The number of radiographers required will be addressed in the final NHS People Plan and is dependent on the service model used by each NHS trust.
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.
As at February 2019, latest available data, there were over 14,000 full time equivalent diagnostic radiographers and over 2,000 therapeutic radiographers employed by the NHS trusts and CCGs, 2,990 and 726 more, respectively, since 2010.
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many radiographers are required to fulfil the long-term objectives of the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
In the Cancer Workforce Plan for England which was published in December 2017, Health Education England (HEE) set out the need to target additional training support.
As part of the development of the NHS People Plan, HEE will now work with NHS England and NHS Improvement to understand the longer-term workforce implications for further development of cancer services. This will include ensuring sustainable growth beyond 2021 in key professions (including radiography) through continued investment in training places, with a greater focus on attracting and retaining students and improving the numbers of qualified professionals who go on to work in the National Health Service. The number of radiographers required will be addressed in the final NHS People Plan and is dependent on the service model used by each NHS trust.
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.
As at February 2019, latest available data, there were over 14,000 full time equivalent diagnostic radiographers and over 2,000 therapeutic radiographers employed by the NHS trusts and CCGs, 2,990 and 726 more, respectively, since 2010.
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have a target number for occupational therapists for the NHS; and if so, what is that target.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Occupational therapists work in the National Health Service, local authority, voluntary and independent sectors.
The Department does not have a specific target number for the number of occupational therapists for the NHS.
Healthcare providers are responsible for ensuring that they have the right level of staffing to provide high quality care. Health Education England will work through its Local Education and Training Boards and others to ensure that there are sufficient staff being trained to meet the needs of patients.
Asked by: Lord Luce (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people they estimate are currently taking recognised courses to qualify as occupational therapists.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The information is not held in the format requested.