Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) doctors, (2) registered nurses, and (3) medical scientists, were employed as locums in each year since 2015; and what was the cost for each of those three groups in each of those years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While data on agency staff by headcount is collected, this information has not been centrally validated.
The following table shows expenditure on agency staff in the healthcare science, medical and dental and nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff groups in each year from 2017/18 to 2020/21. This data was not collected prior to 2017 and information for 2021/22 has not been centrally validated.
Financial year | Healthcare science | Medical and dental | Nursing, midwifery and health visiting |
2017/18 | £40,101,511 | £949,883,470 | £808,661,687 |
2018/19 | £35,670,387 | £937,864,774 | £843,282,221 |
2019/20 | £31,906,249 | £918,617,743 | £878,521,144 |
2020/21 | £34,733,978 | £918,879,984 | £837,822,620 |
Note: Information based on provider financial return.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, what was the annual pay increase provided to (1) medical consultants, (2) GPs, (3) nurses, (4) porters, and (5) NHS Chief Executives, for each year since 2009; and how this compared to the RPI rate in each of those years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Pay Review Body process is the established mechanism for determining pay increases in the public sector, outside of negotiating multi-year pay and contract reform deals.
A table showing annual increases to basic pay for National Health Service consultants, salaried general practitioners (GPs) and GP partners, nurses and health visitors and NHS Chief Executives in each year from 2009/10 to 2022/23 compared with the average Retail Price Index inflation is attached, due to the size of the data.
Information on pay increases for porters is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many British citizens trained as doctors in Eastern European medical schools, including in countries outside the EU, in each year from 2015 to date; and how many have registered as medical practitioners with the General Medical Council.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) pharmacists, (2) registered nurses, (3) physiotherapists, (4) occupational therapists, (5) radiographers, (6) and paramedics, are registered to prescribe medicines; what proportion of each of those professions are licensed; and what plans they have to expand the numbers of each of those groups registered and the range of medicines covered.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held centrally. Pharmacists, registered nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers and paramedics are subject to statutory regulation and must be registered with the relevant healthcare regulatory body to practise in the United Kingdom. Pharmacists are regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council, registered nurses are regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council and physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers and paramedics are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council.
Pharmacists, registered nurses, physiotherapists, therapeutic radiographers and paramedics are legally entitled to be independent prescribers. Diagnostic radiographers are legally entitled to be supplementary prescribers. Individuals must have completed an approved post-registration training course and have an annotation placed against their name in the professional register to state that they have completed this course before this entitlement can be utilised. Occupational therapists are currently able to supply and/or administer medicines under a Patient-Specific Direction or Patient Group Direction within local clinical governance arrangements.
The Department is responsible for providing the legal framework for allowing registered health professionals to train as independent prescribers. Healthcare providers are responsible for utilising the legal framework to increase local capacity according to clinical need and the desired service configuration. The medicines which may be prescribed is dependent on the individual’s clinical competence and scope of practice. Where any controlled drugs are to be prescribed, there must be specific provision in the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of physician assistants currently employed in the NHS; and what plans they have to expand the number of physician assistants in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of June 2022, there were 1,261 full time equivalent (FTE) physician associates (PAs) employed in National Health Service hospital trusts and commissioning bodies. This is an increase of 18% from the previous year. In September 2002, there were also 1,362 FTE PAs employed in general practice and Primary Care Networks, an increase of 51% from the previous year.
There are approximately 1,800 students on a PA programme. Health Education England offers a £5,000 preceptorship allowance paid to employers to support the supervision and educational needs for newly qualified PAs working in primary care.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many British applicants trained as medical students in each year from 2015 to 2021; and how many of those applicants were accepted to train as doctors in each of those years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested on the nationality of students on medical courses in England or the United Kingdom is not held centrally. However, the Office for Students (OFS) reports the intake of medical students at UK medical schools by ‘home fees’ and ‘other fees’ status. ‘Home’ fee status refers to students eligible to pay the ‘home’ level of tuition fees, where individuals must be resident and ‘settled’ in the UK on ‘the first day of the first academic year’ of their course. With some exceptions, they must also have been ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK for the three years prior to that date. The following table shows the number of starters in English medical schools by ‘home’ fees status in each year since 2015/16.
2015/16 | 5,445 |
2016/17 | 5,495 |
2017/18 | 5,460 |
2018/19 | 6,120 |
2019/20 | 6,885 |
2020/21 | 7,570 |
2021/22 | 7,780 |
Source: OFS medical and dental intakes
The information requested on the number of British nationals or the number of ‘home fees’ students who subsequently join the Foundation Programme of training in UK hospitals is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many registered medical practitioners have (1) left, and (2) joined, NHS employment, in each year since 2015.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of Hospital and Community Health Service doctors which have joined and left active service in the National Health Service hospital trusts and commissioning bodies in June of each year since 2014.
Period | Number of leavers | Number of joiners |
June 2014 to June 2015 | 15,507 | 17,963 |
June 2015 to June 2016 | 17,222 | 17,950 |
June 2016 to June 2017 | 16,109 | 19,164 |
June 2017 to June 2018 | 16,580 | 19,524 |
June 2018 to June 2019 | 18,413 | 21,670 |
June 2019 to June 2020 | 17,114 | 26,243 |
June 2020 to June 2021 | 17,806 | 20,915 |
June 2021 to June 2022 | 19,846 | 24,207 |
Source: NHS Digital workforce statistics
This includes those staff moving to or joining from settings such as primary care and general practice. This movement is commonplace with the rotations of placements undertaken by doctors in training grades. It will also include staff who choose to take breaks from active service such as career breaks and maternity or paternity leave.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, what assessment they have made of the proportion of patients who were offered a choice of where they received their NHS consultant-led treatment in each year since 2015.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the format requested. However, NHS Digital has collected data on the proportion of patients offered a choice of provider for elective referrals from those who responded to the Manage Your Referral (MYR) NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) Survey. The MYR e-RS Survey enables patients who have used e-RS for elective referrals for directly bookable services to record their experience of being offered a choice of elective care provider. These results are available to integrated care boards and NHS England to review, assure and improve in order to meet its responsibilities related to patient choice.
The following table shows the responses received to the question “When you agreed to be referred to a specialist, did you talk about the different hospitals or services you could go to?” in each year since 2018.
Year | Yes | No | Don’t know | Sample size |
2018 | 39% | 59% | 2% | 6,962 |
2019 | 38% | 60% | 3% | 4,722 |
2020 | 35% | 62% | 3% | 8,099 |
2021 | 32% | 65% | 2% | 6,158 |
2022 | 31% | 66% | 3% | 5,045 |
The following table shows the responses received to the question “Did you feel that you were able to make choices that met your needs?” in each year since 2018.
Year | Yes | No | Don’t know | Sample size |
2018 | 39% | 59% | 2% | 6,962 |
2019 | 77% | 15% | 9% | 4,722 |
2020 | 77% | 14% | 9% | 8,099 |
2021 | 74% | 16% | 10% | 6,158 |
2022 | 71% | 18% | 11% | 5,045 |
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the benefits of moving to a system of local pay bargaining within the NHS, whilst preserving a national pension scheme.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent Pay Review Body process is the established mechanism for determining pay increases in the public sector, including for National Health Service staff, outside of negotiating pay and contract reform deals. Terms and conditions for NHS staff are agreed nationally through collective agreements with trade unions. The Department is represented on the NHS Staff Council for Agenda for Change staff and at the Joint Negotiating Committees for medical staff.
Flexibility exists within the national terms and conditions for employers to use local recruitment and retention premia. We understand that these flexibilities are seldom used by employers locally due the administrative process, complying with legislation on equal pay and the risk of exacerbating recruitment, retention and pay issues with neighbouring trusts and within the local labour market.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to increase patient awareness that travel and accommodation costs will be paid for by the NHS if they choose to receive treatment outside their local area.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service asks those patients offered earlier treatment at an alternative provider whether they are able to travel and discusses any issues associated with that offer. This may include covering costs associated with travel and overnight accommodation, if clinically appropriate.