Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) an appropriate number of podiatrists work in the NHS and (b) such podiatrists are appropriately trained.

Alistair Burt

It is the responsibility of Health Education England (HEE) to ensure that the healthcare workforce has the right skills, behaviours and training, and is available in the right numbers to support the delivery of health care and health improvement.

HEE’s workforce plan is based on the needs of Local Education and Training Boards, which are responsible for working with local providers and clinical commissioning groups, to determine the future requirements of the workforce reflecting local patient need. The workforce investment plans are reviewed by the HEE Allied Health Professions (AHP) Advisory Group, which is chaired by NHS England’s Chief AHP Officer and has representation from the AHP professional bodies including the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists. For 2015/16, HEE commissioned 362 training places for podiatrists.

HEE is committed to working with stakeholders to influence training curricula and ensure that the NHS workforce can provide the highest standards of care. This includes ensuring that podiatrists receive appropriate pre-registration training and then through Continuing Professional Development to broaden their knowledge, expertise and competence, in line with the latest evidence-based clinical practice.