Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) nurses and (b) doctors are specifically employed within the oncology speciality.

NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care, local authorities or other providers.

The latest NHS Digital workforce statistics show that as at 30 December 2018 there are 1,317 doctors with a speciality in clinical oncology and 985 doctors with a speciality in medical oncology. The figures include all doctors working in the specialty of oncology such as consultants, associate specialists, specialty doctors, doctors in training etc.

The latest NHS Digital workforce statistics show that as at 30 December 2018 there are 2,093 nurses who work in an area of ‘clinical oncology’ and 1,237 nurses who work in an area of ‘medical oncology’. This data represents nurses who are working in services related to oncology, rather than nurses with specialist training in oncology.