Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital consultant posts are vacant; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is an adequate number of hospital consultants working in the NHS.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The number of hospital consultant posts that are vacant is not collected by the Department. The latest workforce data published by NHS Digital shows that as at September 2016 there are 106,131 full time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the National Health Service in England, of which 44,333 are consultants. This is an overall increase of almost 11,400 (FTE) more doctors since May 2010, of which over 8,400 (23.6%) are consultants.
Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient future supply of staff to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system, taking into account issues such as demographic changes.
In delivering its annual workforce plan for England HEE undertakes extensive discussions with NHS organisations, arm’s length bodies and Royal Colleges to understand future workforce requirements. HEE takes into account future demand for services in arriving at the final numbers it will commission.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish specific guidance for clinical commissioning groups on the use of bisphosphonates for preventing secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for decisions on commissioning health services to best meet the needs of their local population and support improvements in health and healthcare outcomes. CCGs are accountable for local prescribing policy decisions, such as the use of bisphosphonates for preventing secondary breast cancer, taking account of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
NICE is currently updating its guideline on early and locally advanced breast cancer: diagnosis and management (CG80). The use of adjuvant bisphosphonates is one of the key areas that will be covered in the update which is expected in July 2018.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on patients of the decision taken by Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group to place restrictions on routine surgery for patients who smoke or are clinically obese.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Each individual Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is accountable for commissioning the care that will provide the best possible outcomes for their patients in line with their legal duties and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance. As such, it is the responsibility of Vale of York CCG to make an assessment of what impact on patients its decisions will have.
Vale of York CCG has made clear that every patient’s case will be considered in the light of their own particular circumstances and on the basis of clinical need.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how NHS England plans to ensure that patients are not put at risk by the decision taken by Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group to place restrictions on routine surgery for patients who smoke or are clinically obese.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Each individual Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is accountable for commissioning the care that will provide the best possible outcomes for their patients in line with their legal duties and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance. As such, it is the responsibility of Vale of York CCG to make an assessment of what impact on patients its decisions will have.
Vale of York CCG has made clear that every patient’s case will be considered in the light of their own particular circumstances and on the basis of clinical need.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data his Department (a) records and (b) publishes on the nationality of NHS staff.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department does not record or publish data on the nationality of staff working in the National Health Service. Data on nationality is published twice a year by NHS Digital and turnover data is published quarterly and available by nationality.
Nationality is a data item within the National Workforce Data set used with a range of other data items to support workforce planning, analysis of staff movement and equality monitoring. It is not mandatory, but self-declared.
In 2015 and 2016 requests for nationality data on NHS staff in England were published on the supplementary information part of the NHS Digital website, rather than as part of the routine Hospital and Community Health Services statistical publications. In 2016, following NHS Digital’s public consultation, NHS Digital now routinely publish tables showing the self-declared nationality of staff in staff groups and regions, bi-annually, together with quarterly turnover statistics which show the nationality of joiners and leavers to and from the NHS in England.
The latest nationality data was published in March 2016 and the next set will be published in December 2016 showing the position at September 2016.
The latest turnover data published in September 2016 covers the 12 month period to 30 June 2016.