Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the impact of the shortfall in clinical radiology consultants in the South East region on (a) diagnostic waiting times, (b) patient outcomes and (c) staff wellbeing in the region.

In the South East region, local systems are taking steps to address diagnostic waiting times, patient outcomes and staff wellbeing in the area. These include initiatives such as upskilling other staff such as radiographers to undertake advanced practice; investing over £40 million in digital infrastructure while working with industry partners around artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions; rolling out the i-refer system to support general practitioners (GPs) to appropriately refer for imaging tests; creating imaging networks to enable departments to provide mutual support and aid across the region.

£2.3 billion was awarded at Spending Review 2021 to transform diagnostic services over the next three years including increasing the number of Community Diagnostic Centres up to 160 by March 2025. This investment will support the ambition for 75% of patients with an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days by March 2024. This is in line with to NHS Long Term Plan ambitions on early diagnosis and improving patient outcomes.

The health and wellbeing of National Health Service staff is taken seriously, and NHS England have put in place a wide ranging package of support for NHS staff. This includes emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support.