Skip to main content

Cancer Plan

Volume 408: debated on Thursday 3 July 2003

The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new staff have been employed as a result of the Cancer Plan. [120612]

Additional funding was made available in the NHS Cancer Plan, rising to an extra £570 million a year by 2003–04. Some of this is being used to make substantial investment in staff, with a wide range of new appointments that are contributing to the delivery of cancer care.The table shows good progress in increasing the number of doctors working in cancer services. This increase means the national health service is on track to hit the target set out in the Cancer Plan of nearly 1,000 extra cancer consultants by 2006. The table also shows that we are making good progress with increasing the number of radiographers working in the NHS. The overall increase of 50,000 nurses working in the NHS will also enable the recruitment of additional cancer-site specific nurse specialists, chemotherapy nurses, district nurses, palliative care nurse specialists and additional nurses on wards caring for cancer patients.

Hospital medical consultants within selected specialties relating to cancer
Numbers (headcount)
England1999Sept 2002Change
All Cancer specialties, of which:3,3623,913551
Clinical oncology30531510
Clinical radiology1,5071,702195
Haematology51058878
Histopathology836968132
Medical oncology11018575
Palliative medicine9415561
Radiographers, of which:
Diagnostic10,83911,489650
Therapeutic1,4911,54251

Source:

Department of Health medical and dental workforce census