Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
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 with the voluntary sector to introduce new ways of treating mental ill health.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and Departmental officials meet regularly with voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) stakeholders in the mental health sector to discuss a range of mental health issues and current challenges.
In October 2024 we launched the 10-Year Health Plan for the National Health Service to gather views from members of the public, NHS staff, VCSEs, and other organisations on their experiences and ideas to reform the NHS and make it fit for the future. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from the hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. We are working closely with VCSEs and other mental health stakeholders to ensure the unique challenges for mental health services across England are reflected in 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
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 (a) help prevent and (b) increase early intervention for mental ill health.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Shared Outcomes Fund Early Support Hubs project aims to increase the Government's understanding of the effectiveness of early intervention and prevention support for children and young people's mental health delivered in a community setting and strengthen the evidence base for early intervention. By evaluating the Early Support Hubs as a delivery model for early intervention, the project aims to build a strong evidence base, assess the impact of these services, and inform potential future expansion of the model. The evaluation of the project aims to report its findings by Summer 2025.
There are currently approximately 65 locally funded early support hubs in England offering early easy access mental health interventions to thousands of children and young people aged 11 to 25 years old, including those from low-income families.
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment.
Additionally, Every Mind Matters is a campaign run by NHS England, which features the mental health tool My Mind Plan at the heart of their resources and advice for those facing mental health problems.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
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 with the (a) NHS and (b) voluntary sector to introduce (i) clinical and (ii) non-clinical responses for young people with mental health needs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to delivering a range of support, both clinical and non-clinical, to improve children and young people’s mental health. This includes recruiting an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult National Health Service mental health services, to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, helping to ease pressure on busy mental health services.
Nearly 500 NHS-funded mental health support teams were operational in approximately 8,500, or 34%, of schools and colleges across England as of the end of March 2024, covering 4.2 million, or 44%, of pupils or learners. These teams work with young people and parents to manage mild to moderate mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, while also assisting schools to develop a whole-school approach to positive mental health and wellbeing.
We will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and roll out Young Futures hubs in every community. The national network of Young Futures hubs is expected to bring local services together, and deliver support for teenagers at risk of being drawn into crime or facing mental health challenges. They will provide open access mental health support for children and young people in every community.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the effectiveness of (a) maternal mental health services launched in 2019 and (b) maternal mental health services pregnancy and baby loss pathways in supporting bereaved mothers.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A National Institute for Health and Care Research-funded study has been commissioned to examine the effectiveness and the implementation of maternal mental health services, including the services’ provision of support for perinatal loss. The study will help identify the optimal service delivery models and context-specific barriers to implementation.
The research aims to understand how effective maternal mental health services are in improving mental health for women who have experienced trauma or loss related to childbirth, and the feasibility and effectiveness of maternal mental health services in providing trauma informed training across the maternity workforce.
To date, maternal mental health services have been implemented in 40 of the 42 integrated care system areas in England, and the last two are being supported by NHS England to ensure they are up and running as soon as possible.
We are committed to improving the mental health support available to those in the perinatal period. We know that the National Health Service has struggled to keep up with people’s greater awareness of the challenges of poor mental health, and that waiting lists for those referred for support are too high. We will reduce waiting times, intervene earlier, and increase the workforce as quickly as possible to meet the required needs.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost to the public purse of work on (a) the Queen's Medical Centre and (b) Nottingham City Hospital via the New Hospital programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standard process for confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The scheme is currently at the Pre-Consultation Business Case stage, and is at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 0.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) business case status and (b) RIBA stage is for the delivery of works on (i) Queen's Medical Centre and (ii) Nottingham City Hospital as part of the New Hospital Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standard process for confirming the total funding amount for major infrastructure projects involves the review and approval of a Full Business Case. All trusts in the programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The scheme is currently at the Pre-Consultation Business Case stage, and is at Royal Institute of British Architects Stage 0.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding had been (a) budgeted and (b) provided for (i) the Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital and (ii) the New Hospital Programme in total by 2 July 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Up to the end of 2023/24, the total amount of funding received by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust for the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital scheme was £7.5 million. The breakdown of how much the Trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
All trusts in the Programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The New Hospital Programme had confirmed £3.7 billion in funding up to the end of 2024/25.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding (a) the Queen's Medical Centre and (b) Nottingham City Hospital received from the National Hospital Programme until the end of the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Up to the end of 2023/24, the total amount of funding received by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust for the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital scheme was £7.5 million. The breakdown of how much the Trust received for their new hospital scheme is published annually as part of the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, with Public Dividend Capital to individual Trusts included in the Financial Assistance Report under section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006. The 2022/23 report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
All trusts in the Programme have previously received indicative funding allocations to support planning, however these are commercially sensitive. The New Hospital Programme had confirmed £3.7 billion in funding up to the end of 2024/25.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
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 that (a) progress can be monitored on all maternity safety improvement schemes and (b) all schemes can be effectively evaluated to assess impact.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving safety and outcomes for women and babies is central to NHS England’s three year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services, which is built on recommendations from recent maternity safety inquiries and specifically addresses the key themes they raised. The plan includes measures to determine success that will be used to monitor outcomes and progress in achieving key objectives in the plan. To facilitate monitoring against the key objectives, NHS England published technical guidance which includes information to provide clarity on the data sources and indicator construction for these measures.
There are a number of measures in place to monitor progress of maternity safety improvement schemes, including the perinatal quality oversight model (PQOM). The PQOM provides a structure with clear lines of responsibility and accountability for addressing and escalating quality and safety risks at a trust, integrated care board, regional, and national level.
The Maternity Safety Support Programme provides dedicated and intensive support to trusts that require additional support. Maternity improvement advisors work closely with trusts to develop tailored maternity improvement plans and monitor progress. NHS England undertook an evaluation of the programme this year and they are currently exploring where improvements can be made.