Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Health Education England monitors the quality of child autism awareness training in NHS hospital emergency departments; and if he will make a statement.

Health Education England (HEE) provides national direction and leadership on high quality healthcare education and training, working with regulators, Royal Colleges and other stakeholders on curricula to ensure that the NHS workforce provides the highest standards of care for patients, including children and young people. The content and standard of healthcare professional training is the responsibility of the regulators, which are independent statutory bodies. They have the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that students and newly qualified professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice.

The Emergency Medicine curriculum is designed by the College of Emergency Medicine, within standards set by the independent regulator, the General Medical Council. It contains explicit requirements to be aware of the impact of any chronic illness or disability on the presentation and management of patients in the Emergency Department. All Emergency physicians are required to be trained to level 3 safeguarding skills which encompasses being cognisant of these conditions and ensuring the patient condition is fully assessed and adjustments made as required.

For the employed workforce, HEE does not directly control the Continued Professional Development activity of specialist staff but does, however, spend approximately £215 million per year on activities which together are termed as ‘workforce development’.