Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2016-07-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what mechanisms they plan to employ to seek advice on workforce planning for gastroenterology following the removal of the role of National Clinical Director for that area.
Lord Prior of Brampton
In future, NHS England will seek clinical advice on issues relating to gastrointestinal and liver disease from a variety of sources. This will include experts at Public Health England (PHE) for issues which are alcohol related, the National Clinical Director for Obesity and Diabetes for issues relating to obesity induced fatty liver disease as well as through the Clinical Reference Group for hepatitis C and the medical Royal Colleges.
Information on liver and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases is also available from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, PHE Atlases of variation, relevant national audits and regular clinical communication between the national Medical Director, his senior team and the relevant Royal Colleges and specialist societies and with senior professionals.
NHS England continues to run an Endoscopy Stakeholder Group to ensure that all aspects of diagnostic pathways for GI disease are reviewed and clinical advice is taken regarding policy developments to address the current and projected requirement in capacity. The relevant specialist societies are key members of this group. NHS England also supports the national Cancer Implementation Programme on behalf of the arm’s length bodies, which includes workstreams on early diagnosis, and on living with and beyond cancer, both of which are addressing many issues that affect patients with GI cancers.
Health Education England will continue to ensure that they engage with employers to forecast how many gastroenterologists they require year on year. The process for making decisions relating to medical training numbers is currently being refined. Medical speciality training post numbers will be reviewed in greater depth with a range of stakeholders on a rolling programme; approximately every two years. Gastroenterology is expected to be reviewed this winter.
