Nurses: Urological Cancers

Mr. Stewart Jackson
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to change the provision of specialist nursing staff in the field of urological cancers; and if he will make a statement;

(2) how many urological cancer clinical nurse specialists were employed in each acute NHS trust in the East of England in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Ann Keen
[holding answer 27 November 2007]: Data on the number of urological cancer clinical nurse specialists are not collected centrally. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has identified clinical nurse specialists as core members of the urology multidisciplinary team in their “Improving Outcomes in Urological Cancers” guidance issued in 2002. It is for cancer networks to work in partnership with strategic health authorities, NHS trusts and postgraduate deaneries to put in place a sustainable process to assess, plan and review their workforce needs and the education and training of all staff linked to local and national priorities for cancer including the implementation of NICE improving outcomes guidance.