Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to maintain the level of funding for specialist nurses.

It is Health Education England’s (HEE) responsibility to ensure that there is sufficient future supply of staff, including those needed in specialist fields, to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system.

HEE publishes an annual Workforce Plan which is built upon the needs of local employers, providers, commissioners and other stakeholders who, as members of its Local Education Training Boards (LETBs), shape the 13 local plans.

The Workforce plan is predominately an aggregate of the local LETB plans, but the final national plan is only agreed with the advice and input of its clinical advisory groups and Patients’ Advisory Forum, as well as the Royal Colleges and other stakeholders.

Once staff are qualified, it is for individual employers to ensure their staff remain up to date with, or acquire, specialist skills to provide safe and effective patient care through Continuous Professional Development and provide sufficient funding locally to ensure this occurs.