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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the potential numbers for junior doctors who may leave the NHS should a new contract for that role be imposed.

Ben Gummer

The Government has received a number of representations from individuals and on behalf of organisations about the introduction of a new junior doctors contract.

The proposals are for a fairer contract that will maintain average earnings and will not require juniors to work longer. It will also put in place improved safeguards for patients and doctors that go beyond those in legislation (and go beyond those in the current contract) that will reduce maximum working hours which will not be the case in other countries. On 28 October, the Government also committed to protect the pay of all junior doctors working safe hours in the transition to a new contract, and appealed to the British Medical Association (BMA) to return to negotiations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what analysis his Department has conducted or commissioned on the number of doctors likely to retire in the next five years; and what assessment his Department has made of whether sufficient numbers of doctors are in training to maintain current service levels.

Ben Gummer

The Centre for Workforce Intelligence medical workforce modelling, estimates that around 13,500 consultants and general practitioners (GPs) in England will retire in the five years from 2015 to 2019 inclusive.

Taking account of expected retirements the consultant and GP workforce is projected to grow by around 9,400 posts by 2019, or 2.2% per annum, which is a considerably faster rate of growth than that projected baseline demand for healthcare services (reflecting population growth and the ageing of the population) over this period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue a career in medicine.

Ben Gummer

The Government has set out in its Mandate to Health Education England (HEE) the need to improve access to healthcare education and employment within the health sector for underrepresented groups, which includes those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

HEE’s ‘Widening Participation: It Matters’ strategy is in place to drive widening participation through partnership working. The strategy’s purpose is to ensure that the National Health Service workforce is more representative of the communities it seeks to serve and that personal development and progression is based upon merit, ability and motivation and not social background, nepotism or privilege.

HEE has also been working with the Medical Schools Council, in partnership with the Sutton Trust in extending the Pathways to Medicine Programme and the Social Mobility Foundation in supporting disadvantaged participants interested in a medical career.

The Department has also worked with the Medical Schools Council and other key groups to produce the “Selecting for Excellence” report which looks to highlight areas for Medical Schools to consider and tackle around widening participation in to UK medical schools a copy of which can be access from:

http://www.medschools.ac.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Selecting-for-Excellence-Final-Report.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what regions he has identified as having a shortage of GPs; and what steps he is taking to address those shortfalls.

Alistair Burt

Health Education England (HEE) has advised that they have identified six local offices experiencing low fill rates of general practitioner (GP) trainees. These are: Yorkshire; East Midlands; West Midlands; North East; East of England; and HEE Wessex (Isle of Wight only).

Data on GP vacancies is not currently held but collection of this data is under development by the Department and the Health and Social Care Information Centre as part of the Workforce Minimum Dataset.

NHS England, HEE, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association’s GPs Committee are working closely together to ensure that there is a skilled, trained and motivated workforce in general practice. In January 2015, the four organisations jointly published a ten point action plan to address immediate issues, and to take the initial steps in building the workforce for the future and new models of care.

There are three strands to this work: improving recruitment into general practice; retaining doctors within general practice; supporting those who wish to return to general practice.

As part of the plan, NHS England launched a new national returner scheme, which has attracted 120 applicants so far. A marketing campaign to highlight the benefits of a career in general practice was launched in September 2015. Further initiatives will be announced by the ten point plan partners in due course.

The plan, “Building the Workforce” is available on NHS England’s website:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/01/building-the-workforce-new-deal-gp.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the merits of including GPs on the occupation shortage list.

Ben Gummer

There have not been any specific discussions with the Home Office about the merits of including general practitioners (GPs) on the national shortage occupation list.

In 2014 the Department of Health commissioned the Centre for Workforce Intelligence to engage with stakeholders and report to the Migration Advisory Committee in response to their call for evidence. Although the Centre for Workforce Intelligence report recommended the inclusion of GPs on the 2015 shortage occupation list, the Migration Advisory Committee concluded that there was insufficient evidence at that time.

International recruitment of GPs under Tier 2 of the immigration points-based system continues to be an option for employers where genuine and continued difficulties exist in meeting demand from domestic and European Economic Area supply.