Cancer: Health Services

(asked on 3rd March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to implement a cancer workforce plan to ensure an adequately skilled and sustainable workforce.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 9th March 2020

The final NHS People Plan is due to be released in 2020 and will build upon the progress made through the Cancer Workforce Plan, published in 2017, including to increase the number of Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) and develop common and consistent competencies for this role with a clear route into training. The plan will take targeted action to ensure the supply of National Health Service staff who play vital role in increasing early diagnosis of cancer, including: specialist cancer nurses, histopathologists, diagnostic radiographers, screening endoscopists and cancer support workers.

No individual target for specific branches or specialties of the nursing profession has been set within the commitment to 50,000 more nurses in the NHS by 2025. Measures to increase the number of CNS will be considered as part of workforce planning to deliver the NHS People Plan.

Reticulating Splines