• Health Education England publishes cancer workforce strategy
• Strategy for next three years includes funding for additional staff and a dedicated skills fund
• We say for these proposals to be realised, we need to tackle the gap between supply and growing demand for specialist staff

Health Education England has published its cancer workforce strategy covering the next three years.

It commits to:

• Investment in 200 additional clinical endoscopists and investment in 300 radiologists;
• retention initiatives to produce an additional 746 consultants working in cancer by 2021;
• and supporting the continued development of cancer staff skills through a national dedicated Skills Fund.

Responding to the cancer workforce strategy published by Health Education England, the director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

“We welcome the ambitious proposals set out by Health Education England to ensure that the NHS has the right mix and number of trained staff to deliver cancer care, one of the key priorities of the Five year forward view.

“More people than ever are surviving cancer, but access to treatment to identify and treat cancer early is critical. This must involve the whole system.

The ability for the service to recruit and retain the staff it needs is the most pressing issue for trusts, and this includes specialists such as radiologists.

“The ability for the service to recruit and retain the staff it needs is the most pressing issue for trusts, and this includes specialists such as radiologists. For these proposals to be realised, we need to tackle the gap between supply and growing demand by opening up different routes to training and providing better support to clinical staff working within this challenging environment.

“Underpinning the success of the plan is understanding that the funding set aside for cancer treatment must be used for this purpose and protected against competing priorities.”