§ Lord Constantine of Stanmoreasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they have taken to remedy the shortage of 320 doctors trained in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer (as stated on the BBC Nine o'clock News of 29th October 1991).
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)In the United Kingdom cancer is treated by a number of specialists including radiotherapists, surgical oncologists, haemotologists and medical oncologists. The Government are committed to increasing the overall number of consultants at 2 per cent. per annum as part ofAchieving a Balance: Plan for Action. Moreover, the Government themselves have helped boost consultant expansion in recent years via central funding. It is the job of the regional health authorities to determine how the resources available to them should be allocated between competing priorities. We have carefully noted the views of the Royal College of Radiologists set out in their report Medical Manpower and workload in Clinical Oncology in the United Kingdom and other representations which urge health authorities to create more consultant posts in the specialty. The college has also put forward their views in evidence to the Medical 64WA Manpower Standing Advisory Committee which plans to submit advice by the end of the year to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State on a range of medical manpower issues.