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 increase the number of (a) doctors specialising in clinical radiology and (b) diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers at Shropshire, Telford, and Wrekin integrated care board.

As of March 2023, there were 5,350 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in clinical radiology in National Health Service trusts in England, 269 more than a year ago, representing a 5.3% increase.

As of March 2023, there were 17,006 FTE diagnostic radiographers and 3,024 FTE therapeutic radiographers working in NHS trusts and integrated care boards in England. Compared to March 2022, that is an increase of 882 in diagnostic radiographers, a 5.5% increase, and an increase of 67 in therapeutic radiographers, a 2.3% increase.

In January 2023, Health Education England announced that nearly 900 additional medical specialty training posts have been created for this year, including more than 500 in the key areas of mental health and cancer treatment.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP), published in June 2023, includes an aim to double the number of medical school places in England to 15,000 places a year by 2031/32, and to work towards this expansion by increasing places by a third, to 10,000 a year, by 2028/29. This will increase the potential pipeline for clinical radiologists. The LTWP also sets out planned increases in the training intake for diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers to 2,300 and 475 respectively per year by 2031.

These steps will benefit every integrated care board area, including Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.