George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase the provision of (a) medical and (b) nursing training in hepatology.

Mr Philip Dunne

It is the responsibility of the professional regulators such as the General Medical Council or the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care.

Hepatology is a medical sub-specialty of gastroenterology. In Health Education England’s 2016/17 Workforce Plan for England, there are 450 training commissions proposed for gastroenterology, an increase from 431 in 2015/16.

Whilst the NMC does not recognise hepatology in its standards for specialist education and practice, the Royal College of Nursing has written a comprehensive competence framework which outlines the training, skills and competence required to develop and maintain a special interest in hepatology:

https://www2.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/641425/004-983_WEB.pdf

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