Department of Health and Social Care
Central Government
Action Planned
The Department of Health and Social Care acknowledges the concerns regarding orthogeriatric provision and highlights the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which aims to double the number of medical school places in England by 2031/32 and increase generalist skills. (AI summary)
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Dear Miss Persaud,
Thank you for your Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths dated 18 April 2023 about the death of John Edward Stiff. I am replying as Minister with responsibility for heath and secondary care.
Firstly, I would like to say how saddened I was to read of the circumstances of John Edward Stiff. I offer my sincere condolences to their family and loved ones. The circumstances your report describes are concerning and I am grateful to you for bringing these matters to my attention. Please accept my sincere apologies for the significant delay in responding to this matter.
The report raises concerns over orthogeriatric provision both at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and nationally.
Orthogeriatric care is a medical-surgical model which brings together multidisciplinary health professionals from trauma, orthopaedics and geriatric medicine to treat the fracture and frailty issues affecting people with hip fractures. I understand that Orthogeriaric provision varies across the NHS. Each individual Trust will create their own care pathways, having regard to both their patients and the skills of their workforce.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) published by NHS England on 30 June last year sets out the case for reforming medical education and training and states that “To care for ever increasing numbers of older people with multiple and complex conditions, health and care professionals will need to continue to enhance their specialist knowledge while also
maintaining and developing their generalist and core skills. This will support health and care professionals to work in multidisciplinary, integrated teams that respond to population health needs and effectively deliver care in communities. The way we train staff also needs to address predicted future workforce shortfalls, match differing generational expectations and meet the needs of those joining the workforce in future.”
The LTWP also sets out an aim to double the number of medical school places in England to 15,000 places a year by 2031/32, and to work towards this expansion by increasing places by a third, to 10,000 a year, by 2028/29. We have brought forward the trajectory of this planned expansion for the last 2 years, having allocated 205 and 350 additional places for the 2024 and 2025 academic years respectively.
This expansion builds on a recent increase in Government funded medical school places. This previous increase was completed in September 2020 and delivered five new medical schools in England, and an additional 1,500 medical school places per year for domestic students in England. This represented a 25% increase and took the total number of medical school places in England to 7,500 each year.
These expansions and reforms will increase the pool from which future Geriatricians, Orthopaedic surgeons and other specialists can be drawn, and increase the skills in the medical workforce that are required to treat complex patients. Together this will facilitate more staff becoming involved in Orthogeriatric Care.
I hope this response is helpful. Thank you for bringing these concerns to my attention.
Thank you for your Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths dated 18 April 2023 about the death of John Edward Stiff. I am replying as Minister with responsibility for heath and secondary care.
Firstly, I would like to say how saddened I was to read of the circumstances of John Edward Stiff. I offer my sincere condolences to their family and loved ones. The circumstances your report describes are concerning and I am grateful to you for bringing these matters to my attention. Please accept my sincere apologies for the significant delay in responding to this matter.
The report raises concerns over orthogeriatric provision both at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and nationally.
Orthogeriatric care is a medical-surgical model which brings together multidisciplinary health professionals from trauma, orthopaedics and geriatric medicine to treat the fracture and frailty issues affecting people with hip fractures. I understand that Orthogeriaric provision varies across the NHS. Each individual Trust will create their own care pathways, having regard to both their patients and the skills of their workforce.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) published by NHS England on 30 June last year sets out the case for reforming medical education and training and states that “To care for ever increasing numbers of older people with multiple and complex conditions, health and care professionals will need to continue to enhance their specialist knowledge while also
maintaining and developing their generalist and core skills. This will support health and care professionals to work in multidisciplinary, integrated teams that respond to population health needs and effectively deliver care in communities. The way we train staff also needs to address predicted future workforce shortfalls, match differing generational expectations and meet the needs of those joining the workforce in future.”
The LTWP also sets out an aim to double the number of medical school places in England to 15,000 places a year by 2031/32, and to work towards this expansion by increasing places by a third, to 10,000 a year, by 2028/29. We have brought forward the trajectory of this planned expansion for the last 2 years, having allocated 205 and 350 additional places for the 2024 and 2025 academic years respectively.
This expansion builds on a recent increase in Government funded medical school places. This previous increase was completed in September 2020 and delivered five new medical schools in England, and an additional 1,500 medical school places per year for domestic students in England. This represented a 25% increase and took the total number of medical school places in England to 7,500 each year.
These expansions and reforms will increase the pool from which future Geriatricians, Orthopaedic surgeons and other specialists can be drawn, and increase the skills in the medical workforce that are required to treat complex patients. Together this will facilitate more staff becoming involved in Orthogeriatric Care.
I hope this response is helpful. Thank you for bringing these concerns to my attention.