Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of numbers of orthopaedic trauma surgeons, given (1) the increasing ageing population, and (2) the need to train the next generation of surgeons.

The Government has committed to publishing a long-term workforce plan shortly which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking account of improvements in retention and productivity. The workforce plan is for the whole of the National Health Service workforce.

As of November 2022, there were 3,590 full time equivalent (FTE) doctors in training in the Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery specialty in the NHS in England. This is an increase of 650 (22.1%%) since November 2010. As of November 2022, there were 2,699 FTE consultants in the Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery speciality in the NHS in England. This is an increase of 712 (35.9%) since November 2010.