Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the endoscopy workforce.

No specific assessment has been made. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement are increasing capacity in endoscopy through community diagnostic centres and the endoscopy-specific transformation project. NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England’s joint diagnostic workforce programme aims to increase the diagnostic workforce and ensure the effective use of the current workforce. National Health Service regional teams are also ensuring that capacity and demand are planned across care pathways to maximise resources. Bowel Cancer Screening Accreditation has increased the number of accreditation sessions and amended its delivery model to one more regionally based to improve accessibility for candidates. An enhanced mentorship programme has been introduced to ensure endoscopists are supported to pass the screening accreditation.