Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking improve training pathways for medical professionals.

In February this year, NHS England launched an extensive engagement and listening exercise to help shape the future of postgraduate medical training. The review will hear about best practice, listen to concerns, including issues around training pathways and the capacity, quality, and inclusivity of training, and will explore ideas and thoughts about how postgraduate medical training could evolve for the future. An engagement exercise will run through to June this year, with findings reported in the summer.

To reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future, we have launched a 10-Year Health Plan as part of the Government’s five long-term missions. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.