Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure there are an adequate number of oncologists in each region.

There are more doctors working in clinical oncology and more radiology doctors compared to last year. On 10 January 2023, Health Education England, now NHS England, announced that nearly 900 additional medical specialty training posts have been created for this year, including 270 in the cancer and diagnostics programme. Many of the additional posts will be specifically targeted to tackle health inequalities and ensure training places are distributed fairly to best meet patients’ needs in all parts of England.

In 2023/24, NHS England is funding an expansion of cancer and diagnostics specialists, including additional medical training places for clinical/medical oncology, radiology, histopathology, and gastroenterology.