Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the long-term financial sustainability of the current organisational and funding structures of the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to putting the National Health Service on a sustainable financial footing. The Government has taken the difficult decisions to protect and invest in the NHS. As announced at 2025 Budget, the Government is investing an additional £15 billion in NHS resource funding in real terms, a £29 billion cash increase, by 2028/29, compared with 2025/26. The 2025 Budget also confirmed that the Department’s capital budgets will rise to £15.2 billion by the end of the Spending Review period, 2029/30, to invest in the NHS and wider health infrastructure.
The Government’s assessment is that long-term financial sustainability requires reform alongside investment, as highlighted by Lord Darzi’s 2024 independent investigation into the NHS in England. In July 2025 the Government set out our plans for reform in the 10-Year Health Plan to ensure that the NHS has long-term sustainability by: shifting from hospital to community care through neighbourhood health to deliver care that is more cost-effective; shifting from analogue to digital with up to £10 billion of investment in NHS technology and transformation to boost productivity; and shifting from sickness to prevention to reduce demand on the health service.
The Government also announced in March 2025 that it will transform the centre of the health and care system, including through abolishing NHS England, following passage of legislation, subject to the will of Parliament. Along with renewing the role of integrated care boards as strategic commissioners, these reforms will cut bureaucracy and save more than £1 billion a year.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential financial and health benefits of introducing a universal compulsory social insurance model for healthcare in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government strongly believes in the founding principles of the National Health Service, as a publicly funded service that is universal, and free at the point of use. Through the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to seeing this model thrive in the modern age. The plan focuses on delivering what matters to patients and taxpayers by transforming the model of care, rather than the model of funding, including through three shifts of moving from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital.
The Government has therefore not undertaken an assessment of introducing a universal compulsory social insurance model for healthcare in the United Kingdom, nor does it have any plans to move away from a tax-funded NHS.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they plan to give, if any, to the introduction of a social insurance model for healthcare similar to that in the Netherlands.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government strongly believes in the founding principles of the National Health Service, as a publicly funded service that is universal, and free at the point of use. Through the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to seeing this model thrive in the modern age. The plan focuses on delivering what matters to patients and taxpayers by transforming the model of care, rather than the model of funding, including through three shifts of moving from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital.
The Government has therefore not undertaken an assessment of introducing a universal compulsory social insurance model for healthcare in the United Kingdom, nor does it have any plans to move away from a tax-funded NHS.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce (1) the number of NHS strikes, and (2) the impact of NHS strikes on patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will work constructively with all unions to improve working conditions for staff working in the National Health Service, avoid strike action, and build an NHS fit for the future.
On 22 March, a comprehensive offer developed with the British Medical Association’s Resident Doctor Committee’s (BMA RDC) leadership was made by the Government to the wider BMA RDC which addressed their concerns about their pay, their career progression, and their working lives. It is enormously disappointing for NHS patients and staff that they rejected this offer and called for further strike action. However, there is still a deal on the table, and our door is open to the BMA RDC as we seek to resolve this dispute.
The priority during any industrial action is to keep patients as safe as possible by minimising the impact of strikes. The NHS works hard to prioritise resources to protect emergency treatment, critical care, neonatal care, maternity services, and trauma care during strike periods, while also prioritising patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery.
An operational response led by NHS England was stood up in advance of strike action to prepare for and mitigate impacts, with NHS England working closely with trusts and local systems on contingency planning and operational readiness.
Thanks to careful planning and the dedication of NHS staff, the NHS has previously been able to maintain approximately 95% of planned care during some strike periods, while continuing to deliver critical services.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total cost to the NHS of resident doctors strikes since 2023.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 2023, there have been 65 strike days, including three rounds of five day industrial action in July, November, and December for 2025. We have estimated that resident doctor industrial action for 2025 cost £50 million per day. Overall costs are therefore approximately £3 billion, recognising that strikes in earlier years cost less due to subsequent inflation.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what interventions they are undertaking to reduce the incidence of musculoskeletal conditions among NHS staff.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Employers across the National Health Service have their own arrangements in place in line with their duty of care for supporting their staff, including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and board level scrutiny through health and wellbeing guardians.
The 10-Year Health Plan committed to the roll out of Staff Treatment Hubs, to provide a high-quality, wellbeing and occupational health service for all NHS staff, including musculoskeletal conditions, one of the main causes of sickness absence in the NHS. Work is underway to develop implementation plans for the Staff Treatments Hubs.
We are also working with Nuffield Health to support NHS staff to access their Joint Pain Programme. The programme is aimed at those staff who are off work due to chronic joint pain or struggling with pain whilst at work and will create up to 4,000 free places annually.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the accuracy, consistency, and transparency of sickness absence reporting within the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England, previously NHS Digital, has been producing and publishing monthly data on sickness absence rates in the National Health Service in the form of official statistics, since September 2009. These data are sourced from the NHS’ payroll and human resources system, the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). As with all official statistics we are always looking for ways to improve both the utility and presentation of these statistics.
NHS England makes every effort to cleanse and improve the utility of the data it downloads from ESR. However, as with all data reported from ESR, the quality of the data NHS England subsequently publishes ultimately lies with the organisations that populate it. The latest publication of sickness absence data for England can be found on the NHS.UK website.
In preparation for the development of the Future NHS Workforce Solution (Future Solution), the successor to the ESR, the human resources system for the NHS, a project is underway to review and consider enhancements to the way in which sickness absence is coded, to explore the feasibility of streamlining and standardising the way in which sickness absence is managed and recorded in ESR and the Future Solution. This project will take place aligned to the Future Solution development timescales with the intention of concluding during quarter three of next financial year.
The sickness absence reporting from ESR has always been used to offer a strategic view of absence in the workforce and is not intended to be used to identify short term trends or be used for operational reasons at a trust level. For example, it could not be used to identify trends in absence as they were happening during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additional data on showing daily sickness absence numbers is published as part of the Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Reports, which are available on the NHS.UK website
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what interventions they are undertaking to address mental health-related sickness absence among NHS staff.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Looking after the mental health of National Health Service staff is a priority for the Government.
Employers across the NHS have their own arrangements in place in line with their duty of care for supporting their staff. Nationally, NHS England has a wide-ranging package of mental health and wellbeing support for all staff including, access to counselling services, a self-check wellbeing tool and free access to a range of wellbeing apps. Staff can also access the National Staff Mental Health Treatment Service, provided by Practitioner Health, for more complex mental health support, including trauma and addiction.
The 10-Year Health Plan committed to roll out Staff Treatment Hubs. These hubs will provide a high-quality occupational health service for all NHS staff and include support for mental health issues.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what factors they attribute to any persistently high levels of sickness absence within the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving National Health Service staff’s health and wellbeing is a priority, recognising the link between workforce wellbeing, attendance, and high-quality patient care.
NHS England is supporting organisations to strengthen their culture, improve working conditions, and expand access to high quality occupational health and wellbeing services.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out Staff Treatment hubs to ensure all staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, the two main causes of sickness absence in the NHS.
To further support this ambition, we are working with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce levels of sickness absence among NHS staff.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving National Health Service staff’s health and wellbeing is a priority, recognising the link between workforce wellbeing, attendance, and high-quality patient care.
NHS England is supporting organisations to strengthen their culture, improve working conditions, and expand access to high quality occupational health and wellbeing services.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out Staff Treatment hubs to ensure all staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, the two main causes of sickness absence in the NHS.
To further support this ambition, we are working with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment.