§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the impact on patients of the availability of histopathology consultants working in the NHS. [129110]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonIt is for cancer networks to work in partnership with workforce development confederations and strategic health authorities to put in place a sustainable process to assess, plan and review their work force needs and the education and training of all staff linked to local and national priorities for cancer.
To meet NHS Plan and Cancer Plan commitments to get the staff that the national health service needs to deliver high quality care to patients, the Department is taking steps to increase the overall number of histopathologists. Three histopathology training schools were piloted in Leeds, Leicester and Southampton. The schools trained 18 senior house officers a year to be able to apply for specialist registrar posts. Building on their early success, we are increasing funding to the existing schools to enrol 24 trainees each year. We are also increasing the number of schools from three to 12 and raising the annual intake from 18 to 96 by 2005–06.
We have also set up an intensive training programme at Southampton for exceptional overseas graduates with at least two years previous experience in pathology. The aim of the programme is to provide support and targeted training and to assess competence and educational needs in three months, rather than in one year, resulting in an extra eight histopathologists a year being eligible to apply for specialist registrar posts in histopathology.
§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to train histopathology consultants. [129112]
§ Mr. HuttonIn line with the commitment in "The NHS Cancer Plan", in 2000–01 the Department set up three histopathology training schools in Leeds, Leicester and Southampton. These schools initially trained an extra 18 senior house officers a year, to be eligible to apply for specialist registrar (SpR) posts in histopathology. Building on early success, we are increasing funding to the schools to take on 24 trainees each year. We are also pleased to expand the initiative1306W nationally, increasing the number of schools from three to 12 and raising the annual intake from 18 to 96 by 2005–06.
We have also set up an intensive training programme at Southampton for exceptional graduates with at least two years overseas experience in pathology. The aim of the programme is to provide support and targeted training and to assess competence and educational needs in three months, rather than in one year, resulting in an extra eight histopathologists a year being eligible to apply for SpR posts in histopathology.