§ Miss WiddecombeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his plans to increase the number of radiotherapists in the National Health Service. [53144]
§ Mr. MilburnThe Department maintains an overview of the supply of trained personnel for 'the National Health Service.
Local employers should plan the numbers of radiotherapists (doctors) and therapy radiographers needed to deliver their radiotherapy services. These plans are used in assessing levels of training needed to produce the required numbers of fully-trained staff for the future.
380WAt the same time, Specialty Workforce Advisory Group (SWAG) advises the National Health Service Executive and the Welsh Office on the number of higher specialist trainees needed, to ensure an adequate supply of properly trained doctors in each specialty. It carries out annual reviews of each specialty's need for consultants. SWAG has identified the specialty of radiotherapy (or clinical oncology) as having significant shortages.
For 1998–99, SWAG recommended further increases in the number of higher specialist trainees, in radiotherapy. It has recommended that these increases be treated as a priority.