Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the longest inpatient stays were for mental health patients in each age group discharged in 2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested for the latest available period (1 January to 30 June 2025) is in the table below. Counts below 5 are suppressed using an asterisk.
Age Band at Discharge | Bed Type at Discharge1 | Total Number of Discharges | Longest hospital stay (days)2 |
0 to 17 | Child and Young Person Learning Disabilities | 945 | 2,968 |
0 to 17 | Unknown3 | 400 | 2,385 |
0 to 17 | Acute Mental Health Unit for Adults with a Learning Disability and/or Autism | * | 2,033 |
0 to 17 | General Child and Young Person Young Person (13 years up to and including 17 years) | 930 | 853 |
0 to 17 | Child and Young Person Low Secure Mental Illness | * | 699 |
0 to 17 | Eating Disorders Child and Young Person | 135 | 662 |
0 to 17 | General Child and Young Person Child (up to and including 12 years) | 240 | 609 |
0 to 17 | Child and Young Person Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit | 110 | 563 |
0 to 17 | Adult Low Secure | 5 | 392 |
0 to 17 | Adult Eating Disorders | * | 200 |
0 to 17 | Child Mental Health Services for the Deaf | * | 114 |
0 to 17 | Acute Adult Mental Health Care | 30 | 59 |
0 to 17 | Child and Young Person Medium Secure Mental Illness | * | 43 |
0 to 17 | Adult Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (Acute Mental Health Care) | * | 42 |
0 to 17 | Adult Mental Health Rehabilitation (Mainstream Service) | 5 | 4 |
0 to 17 | Adult Neuro-Psychiatry / Acquired Brain Injury | 10 | 3 |
18 to 64 | Adult High Secure | 55 | 10,514 |
18 to 64 | Adult Medium Secure | 380 | 7,897 |
18 to 64 | Adult Mental Health Rehabilitation (Mainstream Service) | 1,360 | 6,785 |
18 to 64 | Unknown3 | 2,950 | 6,666 |
18 to 64 | Acute Mental Health Unit for Adults with a Learning Disability and/or Autism | 730 | 6,199 |
18 to 64 | Adult Low Secure | 420 | 5,916 |
18 to 64 | Acute Older Adult Mental Health Care (Organic and Functional) | 555 | 5,381 |
18 to 64 | Adult Neuro-Psychiatry / Acquired Brain Injury | 160 | 5,250 |
18 to 64 | Acute Adult Mental Health Care | 30,905 | 3,920 |
18 to 64 | Adult Mental Health Rehabilitation for Adults with a Learning Disability and/or Autism (Specialist Service) | 155 | 3,763 |
18 to 64 | Child and Young Person Learning Disabilities | 30 | 2,956 |
18 to 64 | Adult Personality Disorder | 10 | 2,701 |
18 to 64 | Adult Mental Health Services for the Deaf | 20 | 1,892 |
18 to 64 | Eating Disorders Child and Young Person | 35 | 1,538 |
18 to 64 | General Child and Young Person Child (up to and including 12 years) | * | 1,414 |
18 to 64 | Adult Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (Acute Mental Health Care) | 2,580 | 1,181 |
18 to 64 | Adult Eating Disorders | 390 | 943 |
18 to 64 | Child and Young Person Low Secure Mental Illness | 5 | 876 |
18 to 64 | General Child and Young Person Young Person (13 years up to and including 17 years) | 35 | 693 |
18 to 64 | Child and Young Person Medium Secure Mental Illness | * | 600 |
18 to 64 | Mother and Baby | 465 | 285 |
18 to 64 | Severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Body Dysmorphic Disorder - Young Person | 5 | 245 |
18 to 64 | Child and Young Person Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit | 10 | 188 |
65+ | Adult Mental Health Rehabilitation (Mainstream Service) | 195 | 8,768 |
65+ | Adult Low Secure | 20 | 6,361 |
65+ | Adult Neuro-Psychiatry / Acquired Brain Injury | 45 | 6,167 |
65+ | Acute Older Adult Mental Health Care (Organic and Functional) | 5,705 | 5,671 |
65+ | Adult Medium Secure | 15 | 4,960 |
65+ | Acute Mental Health Unit for Adults with a Learning Disability and/or Autism | 15 | 2,606 |
65+ | Acute Adult Mental Health Care | 1,055 | 1,832 |
65+ | Adult Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (Acute Mental Health Care) | 30 | 1,576 |
65+ | Unknown3 | 125 | 1,195 |
65+ | Adult Mental Health Services for the Deaf | * | 534 |
65+ | Adult Mental Health Rehabilitation for Adults with a Learning Disability and/or Autism (Specialist Service) | 5 | 514 |
65+ | Severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Body Dysmorphic Disorder - Young Person | * | 310 |
65+ | Adult Eating Disorders | 10 | 260 |
65+ | General Child and Young Person Child (up to and including 12 years) | * | - |
Data source: Mental Health Services Dataset, NHS England
1 Bed type is the bed that the patient was in when they were discharged.
2 The length of stay is the patient’s total length of stay during the hospital spell.
3 Where a patient’s bed type is not recorded or cannot be matched to a valid value, the bed type is recorded as unknown.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 adequacy of the network of publicly available defibrillators; whether there are any blackspots; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that all areas have access to defibrillators.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department’s Community Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Fund delivered 3,080 new AEDs to local communities between September 2023 and February 2025. These AEDs were prioritised for areas of greatest need. This included remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas.
The Government’s position is that local communities are best placed to make decisions about procuring, locating, and maintaining AEDs. Over 110,000 defibrillators are registered in the United Kingdom on The Circuit, the independent AED database. Over 30,000 of these have been added in the past two years, many as a result of local community led action.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental practices are currently accepting new NHS patients in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency; and what data his Department holds on waiting times for NHS dental treatment in that constituency for the latest available period.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. Some dental practices may operate local waiting list arrangements. Therefore, data on waiting times for NHS dental treatment is not held centrally.
As of 3 November 2025, there were six NHS dentist practices in the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency, with one showing as ‘accepting new child patients when availability allows’ and zero showing as ‘accepting new adult patients when availability allows’. This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website and is matched to constituencies based on the postcode data shown on the website, at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist
Integrated care board (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population. For the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency, this is the North East and North Cumbria ICB.
We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments across the country, with appointments more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most. The Government is also considering the outcomes of the consultation on immediate improvements to dental care and will publish a response shortly.
We are committed to reforming the dental sector and we will deliver fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to specialist dementia care services in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). We would expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking into account National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
This Government is committed to improving dementia care and is empowering local leaders with the autonomy that they need to provide the best services to their local community, including those with dementia. That is why we have published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool. This will help places and systems identify where improvements need to be targeted.
Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services. We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 MRI scanning waiting lists in (a) all Greater Manchester hospitals (b) Royal Oldham Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on diagnostic lists and waiting times is published at a National Health Service trust level and is available in the document attached. We do not hold data on waiting lists for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan in the Royal Oldham Hospital.
The following table shows the number of patients waiting for an MRI scan in all acute Greater Manchester NHS trusts, as well as the number and percentage waiting more than six weeks, with data being correct as of September 2025:
Name of acute NHS trust | Total waiting list for MRI scans as of September 2025 | Number waiting more than six weeks for an MRI scan as of September 2025 | Percentage waiting more than six weeks for an MRI scan as of September 2025 |
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust | 637 | 9 | 1.4% |
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust | 7,807 | 1,515 | 19.4% |
Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust, of which the Royal Oldham Hospital is a part | 6,102 | 180 | 2.9% |
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust | 1,145 | 8 | 0.7% |
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust | 912 | 0 | 0% |
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust | 412 | 8 | 1.9% |
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust | 2,675 | 353 | 13.2% |
Total | 19,690 | 2,073 | 10.5% |
The national six week waiting times standard is that no more than one percent of patients waiting for an MRI scan should wait more than six weeks, or 42 days.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 the recruitment and retention of staff in women’s health services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about recruitment are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to making the NHS the best place to work, by supporting and retaining our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals.
To support this ambition, the Government plans to introduce a new set of standards for modern employment in April 2026. The new standards will reaffirm our commitment to improving retention by tackling the issues that matter to staff including promoting flexible working, improving staff health and wellbeing, and dealing with violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the NHS workplace. They will provide a framework for leaders across the NHS to build a supportive culture that embeds retention.
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 steps he is taking to ensure timely access to treatment for children experiencing sudden medical emergencies in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for ensuring that appropriate specialist support is available for paediatric medical emergencies in their areas. In Surrey Heath, this responsibility sits with the Frimley Integrated Care System.
Children who require specialist support for medical emergencies in the Surrey Heath constituency are served by their local hospital at Frimley Park which has a dedicated Paediatric Emergency Department. The Paediatric Emergency Department is a separate facility within the main department and is open 24 hours a day.
Children who require treatment for sudden medical emergencies can also access the South East Coast Ambulance Service via 999. Following support from the ambulance service, children may be taken to the Paediatric Emergency Department at Frimley Park Hospital or another suitable facility.
In our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, we commit to increasing the number of children seen within four hours in accident and emergency. This means thousands of children every month receiving more timely care than before.
The Department continues to work with NHS England and local systems to monitor capacity so that children receive timely, specialist care in emergencies.
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 adequacy of the availability of specialist support for paediatric medical emergencies in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for ensuring that appropriate specialist support is available for paediatric medical emergencies in their areas. In Surrey Heath, this responsibility sits with the Frimley Integrated Care System.
Children who require specialist support for medical emergencies in the Surrey Heath constituency are served by their local hospital at Frimley Park which has a dedicated Paediatric Emergency Department. The Paediatric Emergency Department is a separate facility within the main department and is open 24 hours a day.
Children who require treatment for sudden medical emergencies can also access the South East Coast Ambulance Service via 999. Following support from the ambulance service, children may be taken to the Paediatric Emergency Department at Frimley Park Hospital or another suitable facility.
In our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, we commit to increasing the number of children seen within four hours in accident and emergency. This means thousands of children every month receiving more timely care than before.
The Department continues to work with NHS England and local systems to monitor capacity so that children receive timely, specialist care in emergencies.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS pension forfeiture provisions apply in cases where a former NHS employee has been convicted of serious criminal offences.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has the power to forfeit some or all NHS Pension Scheme benefits where an individual is convicted of certain offences. This includes individuals who have left National Health Service employment or are retired, provided the offences were committed before pension benefits became payable. The offences are:
- an offence in connection with employment that entitled them to be a member of the scheme, which is certified by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care either to have been gravely injurious to the State or to be liable to lead to serious loss of confidence in the public service;
- an offence of treason; and/or
- one or more offences under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 to 1989 for which the member has been sentenced on the same occasion to a term of imprisonment of, or to two or more consecutive terms amounting in the aggregate to, at least 10 years.
NHS pension benefits payable to a surviving partner and/or dependants may be subject to forfeiture if the survivor or dependant has been convicted of the murder, manslaughter, or of any other offence of which unlawful killing of the scheme member is an element.
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, whether his Department has plans to improve (a) recognition and (b) support for volunteer emergency responders in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises and is grateful for the valuable contribution volunteers make in supporting National Health Service staff, patients, and services.
Individual ambulance trusts are responsible for making decisions on recruiting, supporting, and developing volunteers to support their specific service needs. NHS England recently launched a single volunteer recruitment portal making it easier for trusts across the NHS to advertise volunteer vacancies, and for potential volunteer applicants to source and apply for available opportunities.
There are currently no plans for the Government to review the ways that emergency responders are recruited or supported by trusts.