Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps Health Education England plans to take to ensure that the strategic review of the cancer workforce addresses the complex needs of the growing number of people living with and beyond cancer.
Delivering high quality, effective, compassionate care: Developing the right people with the right skills and the right values - A mandate from the Government to Health Education England: April 2016 to March 2017 (October 2016) states that Health Education England (HEE) will continue to take forward relevant recommendations set out in the independent Cancer Task Force report, Achieving World Class Cancer Outcomes: a strategy for England 2015 - 2020, including working with partners to develop a vision for the future shape and skills mix of the workforce required to deliver a modern, holistic patient-centred cancer service and report by December 2016.
Supported by Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support, HEE has been leading on this recommendation and has completed an initial cancer workforce baseline review that has been shared and discussed with key stakeholders. The review is regularly updated with emerging intelligence from Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) areas on the workforce they require to deliver the cancer service challenge.
In addition, HEE is leading on a major piece of work to address the workforce challenges in transforming cancer services, which includes a skills mix review. It has agreed an approach with key stakeholders for the review and will be working through Local Workforce Action Boards, Vanguards and Cancer Alliances to understand the skills mix needed for emerging cancer service models. HEE will report back on this work in March 2017.
HEE will also be working with the National Cancer Transformation Board’s Living With and Beyond Cancer Oversight Group to understand the workforce requirements outlined in Implementing the Cancer Taskforce Recommendations: Commissioning Person Centred Care for People Affected By Cancer (April 2016), including reviewing good practice in approaches to reduce and managing long term consequences of treatment. HEE will work with STPs and clinical commissioning groups to support their service proposals by identifying and addressing the workforce challenges to develop the workforce to put this guidance into action.