Andy Sawford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Sawford on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what correspondence he has received relating to reductions in the number of podiatrists employed in each of the regions of England in each of the last three years.

Dr Daniel Poulter

A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified four items of correspondence about reductions in the number of podiatrists employed in England, three were received in 2012 and one was received in 2014. This is a minimum figure which represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only.

Following the Westminster Hall debate on 4 December 2013 about Podiatry services, secured by the hon. Member for Corby (Andy Sawford); the Chief Executive of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, wrote to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health (Jane Ellison) who responded to the debate, expressing concern about the reduction of podiatrists staffing levels in some areas.

In that debate the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health explained that “in situations in which services need to be changed, the NHS commitment is to make sure decisions are made in a clear and transparent way, so that patients and the public can understand how services are planned and delivered. Through the mandate, NHS England is responsible for services and for working with local clinical commissioning groups to ensure that their services are based on the needs of the local population within the resources available and there has to be evidenced-based best practice”.