Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of General Practice Nurses.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Government has committed to increasing the primary care workforce. We are on track to reach 50,000 additional nurses, with over 46,000 more nurses in July 2023 compared with September 2019, including nurses in general practice. We are working to achieve the 50,000 nurses target by improving retention as well as by diversifying our training pipeline and ethically recruiting internationally.
In July 2022, Chief Nursing Officer Ruth May and Em Wilkinson-Brice, National Director of People at NHS England, wrote to trusts to set out the principles and high impact actions that will support the retention of nurses and midwives.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the ambition to increase adult nursing training places by 92%, taking the number of total places up to nearly 38,000 by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will increase training places to nearly 28,000 in 2028/29.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s report entitled Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, what steps his Department is taking to increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis who are registered to be informed about dementia clinical trials.
Answered by Will Quince
Join Dementia Research (JDR), delivered by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer Scotland and Alzheimer’s Research UK, is our main tool for enabling people to register their interest in dementia research and be matched to trials. The goal is to improve participation and diversity in dementia research by making it possible for anyone who wants to be involved in dementia research to get the chance to do so.
To increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis in dementia clinical trials and other research and to increase awareness of opportunities to take part, the NIHR is undertaking several actions, including but not limited to: direct text messaging from general practitioners to patients at selected sites across England; establishing links with NHS Memory Services and other care networks to integrate discussion of JDR into their processes; working with the NHS Admiral Nurses to develop training materials to support healthcare professionals when discussing research with patients; and working to establish a national network of local JDR champions who will build on relationships with local organisations, charities and local groups representing under-represented communities to engage people with JDR.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 35 of the report Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, published by Alzheimer’s Research UK in September 2023, whether his Department is taking steps to increase awareness among people with a dementia diagnosis about dementia (a) clinical trials and (b) other research.
Answered by Will Quince
Join Dementia Research (JDR), delivered by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer Scotland and Alzheimer’s Research UK, is our main tool for enabling people to register their interest in dementia research and be matched to trials. The goal is to improve participation and diversity in dementia research by making it possible for anyone who wants to be involved in dementia research to get the chance to do so.
To increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis in dementia clinical trials and other research and to increase awareness of opportunities to take part, the NIHR is undertaking several actions, including but not limited to: direct text messaging from general practitioners to patients at selected sites across England; establishing links with NHS Memory Services and other care networks to integrate discussion of JDR into their processes; working with the NHS Admiral Nurses to develop training materials to support healthcare professionals when discussing research with patients; and working to establish a national network of local JDR champions who will build on relationships with local organisations, charities and local groups representing under-represented communities to engage people with JDR.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses left the NHS in England in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Will Quince
The annual numbers of doctors and nurses leaving active service in the National Health Service in England are published quarterly by NHS England as part of their NHS Workforce Statistics Collection. The data is available in the Turnover SG and Region HC tab at the following link:
The data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and commissioning bodies, but excludes staff directly employed by primary care, general practitioner surgeries, local authorities and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers. Leavers includes staff leaving to work in primary care, for local authorities and for private providers, including those doing NHS commissioned work. Doctors in training will rotate in a planned way around the wider health care system as part of their training and so have higher recorded leaver rates. The statistics also count those taking breaks in paid employment, such as unpaid maternity leave.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce backlogs in community child health services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to reducing community health care waiting lists for children and young people. That is why the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets commitments to grow the community workforce, with increases in training places for district nurses, health visitors, school nurses and allied health professionals, and a renewed focus on retaining existing staff.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) doctors, and (2) nurses, left the NHS in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, and (d) 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table below shows the published data on the leaver rates as a percentage and the number of doctors and nurses & health visitors who have left active service in National Health Service trusts and core organisations, for each annual period 2019 to 2022.
Period | Doctors | Nurses & Health Visitors |
31 December 2018 to 31 December 2019 | 17,863 (14.7%) | 33,188 (10.2%) |
31 December 2019 to 31 December 2020 | 17,045 (13.3%) | 30,392 (9.0%) |
31 December 2020 to 31 December 2021 | 19,156 (14.4%) | 36,689 (10.6%) |
31 December 2021 to 31 December 2022 | 21,078 (15.2%) | 41,121 (11.4%) |
Source: NHS England Workforce Statistics
The latest figures published by NHS England for the year to March 2023 show leaver rates are falling, and currently stand at 15.0% for doctors and 10.9% for nurses and health Visitors. Leaver’s data is based on headcount and shows staff leaving active service. This would include those going on maternity leave or career breaks, as well as those leaving NHS trusts and core organisations, including integrated care boards, to work in another part of the health and social care sector, including social care or primary care. The number of doctors leaving includes doctors in training grades, of whom some will be rotating out of NHS trusts to other parts of the health and social care sector as part of planned programmes of training.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to ensure that healthcare professionals receive updated training and resources for the accurate and timely diagnosis of motor neurone disease.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All health professionals involved in assessing, caring for and treating people with motor neurone disease (MND) should have sufficient and appropriate training and competence. Individual employers are responsible for ensuring their medical and nursing staff are trained and competent to carry out their role and to invest in the future of their staff through providing continuing professional development (CPD) funding.
To supplement local employer investment for CPD, the Government announced in September 2019 a £210 million funding boost to provide every nurse, midwife, and allied health professional (AHP) working in the National Health Service in England with a personal budget of £1,000 over three years to 2022/23.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out NHS England’s commitment to continue national CPD funding for nurses, midwives and AHPs. The operation of this scheme will be kept under review, to ensure subsequent funding is in line with workforce growth and inflation, well-targeted and achieving the desired outcomes.
To support the diagnosis of MND, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a clinical guideline on the assessment and management of MND (NG42).
NHS England commissions specialised neurology services for the assessment, diagnosis and care of patients with a range of neurological conditions, including MND, as set out in the published service specification. A copy of this specification is attached.
NHS England currently has a National Transformation Programme for Neurosciences, which is undertaking considerable work to review and develop optimal care pathways, including early diagnosis and model of care for patients with a range of neurological conditions, including MND.
Additionally, the National Neurosciences Advisory Group, a collaboration of specialist clinicians, allied health professionals and charity representatives, developed a clinical pathway for MND, published in June 2023. A copy of the pathway is attached.
The pathway is being used to inform the proposed changes to the neurology service model, which will in turn be used to revise the service specification for neurology.
NHS England does not currently monitor or evaluate rates of diagnosis of neurological conditions, including MND, nor does it have metrics in place to assess diagnostic rates.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 to support the (a) continuous training and (b) upskilling of healthcare professionals dealing with dementia in Solihull constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
Individual employers are responsible for ensuring their staff are trained and competent to carry out their role, and for investing in the future of their staff through providing continuing professional development (CPD) funding.
To supplement local employer investment for CPD, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out NHS England’s commitment to continue national CPD funding for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. The operation of this scheme will be kept under review, to ensure subsequent funding is in line with workforce growth and inflation, well targeted and achieving the desired outcomes.
There are a variety of resources available on the NHS England E-learning for Health platform, including a programme on dementia care designed to enhance the training and education of the health and social care workforce.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) what is their assessment of the effectiveness of their efforts to enhance early motor neurone disease diagnosis, specifically in terms of reducing diagnostic delays, (2) how they are monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of their efforts to enhance motor neurone disease diagnosis, and (3) what metrics they are using to assess progress in this area.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All health professionals involved in assessing, caring for and treating people with motor neurone disease (MND) should have sufficient and appropriate training and competence. Individual employers are responsible for ensuring their medical and nursing staff are trained and competent to carry out their role and to invest in the future of their staff through providing continuing professional development (CPD) funding.
To supplement local employer investment for CPD, the Government announced in September 2019 a £210 million funding boost to provide every nurse, midwife, and allied health professional (AHP) working in the National Health Service in England with a personal budget of £1,000 over three years to 2022/23.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out NHS England’s commitment to continue national CPD funding for nurses, midwives and AHPs. The operation of this scheme will be kept under review, to ensure subsequent funding is in line with workforce growth and inflation, well-targeted and achieving the desired outcomes.
To support the diagnosis of MND, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a clinical guideline on the assessment and management of MND (NG42).
NHS England commissions specialised neurology services for the assessment, diagnosis and care of patients with a range of neurological conditions, including MND, as set out in the published service specification. A copy of this specification is attached.
NHS England currently has a National Transformation Programme for Neurosciences, which is undertaking considerable work to review and develop optimal care pathways, including early diagnosis and model of care for patients with a range of neurological conditions, including MND.
Additionally, the National Neurosciences Advisory Group, a collaboration of specialist clinicians, allied health professionals and charity representatives, developed a clinical pathway for MND, published in June 2023. A copy of the pathway is attached.
The pathway is being used to inform the proposed changes to the neurology service model, which will in turn be used to revise the service specification for neurology.
NHS England does not currently monitor or evaluate rates of diagnosis of neurological conditions, including MND, nor does it have metrics in place to assess diagnostic rates.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 to reduce backlogs in community child health services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to reducing community health care waiting lists for children and young people. That is why the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets commitments to grow the community workforce, with increases in training places for district nurses and allied health professionals and a renewed focus on retaining existing staff.
NHS England has asked systems to develop and agree plans to reduce waiting lists for community health services, including considering transforming service pathways and improving effectiveness and productivity. Commissioning community services is the responsibility of local systems.