Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the removal of ring-fenced funding for maternity services at Integrated Care Board level, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that maternity safety improvements are maintained.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has instructed the National Health Service to improve maternity services, as part of a drive to improve quality, as a priority in the Medium‑Term Planning Framework.
While the ringfence has been removed, the same level of funding is being delivered to allow local healthcare system leaders more autonomy to meet the needs of their local population. This approach is consistent with our wider approach to give local healthcare leaders, who are best placed to decide how to serve their local community, more flexibility.
Baroness Amos is leading a rapid, independent investigation in NHS Maternity and Neonatal services to help us understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies and families experience unacceptable care. The investigation will look into the maternity and neonatal system nationally, bringing together the findings of past reviews into one clear national set of recommendations. This will also include local investigations of maternity and neonatal services in selected trusts.
On 9 December, Baroness Amos published reflections on what she has heard so far as part of the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, following engagement with women and families. Baroness Amos’ reflections and initial findings are available at the following link:
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the trends in the level of consistency of NHS Continuing Healthcare assessments across (a) England, (b) the South East and (c) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Operational delivery of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) with oversight from NHS England. The Department’s statutory guidance on CHC supports practitioners to undertake assessments and deliver CHC appropriately. Eligibility can vary across ICBs due to factors including, but not limited to, the age profile of the local population and health need variation between geographical regions.
NHS England’s assurance regime promotes accurate assessment, equal access, and consistency within CHC delivery. Their assurance model is focused on reducing variation in the delivery of CHC services across the country. The NHS Performance and Assessment Framework for 2025/26 includes specific metrics to support NHS England to monitor CHC delivery and support improved patient experience.
The NHS All Age Continuing Care Data Set, which was launched in April 2025, provides NHS England with regional, ICB, and sub-ICB-level data on CHC eligibility, referrals, and assessment outcomes to help monitor and improve CHC delivery.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the regional provision of Minor Eye Conditions Services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. This can include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, including minor and urgent eye care services and glaucoma referral refinement services.
NHS England’s accelerator pilots have demonstrated that improved IT connectivity and a single point of access can significantly speed up eye care referrals and support more patients to be managed in the community, in line with the ambitions in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the October 2024 report entitled Key Interventions to Transform Eye Care & Eye Health; and what estimate his Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse of that report’s recommendations for a national-roll out of (a) Community Urgent Eye Service and Minor Eye Conditions Service, (b) the Integrated Glaucoma Pathway and (c) the Integrated Cataract Pathway for pre and post assessments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. This can include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, including minor and urgent eye care services and glaucoma referral refinement services.
NHS England’s accelerator pilots have demonstrated that improved IT connectivity and a single point of access can significantly speed up eye care referrals and support more patients to be managed in the community, in line with the ambitions in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to create capacity in hospital eye services by expanding the use of optometry-led diagnostic and treatment pathways.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. This can include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, including minor and urgent eye care services and glaucoma referral refinement services.
NHS England’s accelerator pilots have demonstrated that improved IT connectivity and a single point of access can significantly speed up eye care referrals and support more patients to be managed in the community, in line with the ambitions in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of the (a) Minor Eye Conditions Service and (b) Community Urgent Eyecare Service.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. This can include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, including minor and urgent eye care services and glaucoma referral refinement services.
NHS England’s accelerator pilots have demonstrated that improved IT connectivity and a single point of access can significantly speed up eye care referrals and support more patients to be managed in the community, in line with the ambitions in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to expand the use of community optometry services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. This can include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, including minor and urgent eye care services and glaucoma referral refinement services.
NHS England’s accelerator pilots have demonstrated that improved IT connectivity and a single point of access can significantly speed up eye care referrals and support more patients to be managed in the community, in line with the ambitions in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of (a) eye care services provision and (b) steps taken by Integrated Care Boards to ensure equality of access to eye care services in each region.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet local need. NHS sight tests are widely available across the country. The decision to commission enhanced eye care services will be determined by local ICBs following a local needs assessment.
ICBs are required to work with local authorities to assess the current and future health, care and wellbeing needs of their local populations. They will then set out in joint local health and wellbeing strategies how they will meet those needs, which could include addressing any identified inequalities in accessing services. ICBs will also want to take account of published waiting list information which is broken down by demographics to allow greater visibility of potential health inequalities.
Asked by: Chris Hinchliff (Labour - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) preparing and (b) publishing a national strategy for (i) palliative and (ii) end-of-life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. I refer the hon. member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) palliative and (b) end of life care for patients in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. I refer the hon. member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families, including those in Yeovil, receive at the end of life and will enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.
The recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium-Term Planning Guidance also make clear the expectations that integrated care boards should understand current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. St Margaret’s Hospice Care, which serves patients in the Yeovil constituency, is receiving £816,184 from this funding.