Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
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 effectiveness of health services available to children with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not routinely make assessments of the effectiveness of health services at a constituency level, and has therefore not made an assessment of the effectiveness of health services available to children with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) in Gloucester. The planning and delivery of National Health Services are the responsibility of local integrated care boards, which assess the needs of their local populations and commission services accordingly.
NHS England continues to work with eating disorder services and local commissioners to improve access to assessment and treatment for all children and young people with a suspected eating disorder, including those presenting with ARFID. Lessons from previous pilots commissioned to improve access to support and develop training on ARFID has contributed to this work. In January 2026, NHS England also updated guidance on children and young people’s eating disorders, including ARFID, that seeks to strengthen early identification and intervention of eating disorders, whilst ensuring swift access to specialist community eating disorder services as soon as an eating disorder is suspected.
Community children and young people’s eating disorder services across England provide assessment and treatment for eating disorders, including ARFID, and local areas are able to commission training and adapt care pathways to ensure services meet the needs of patients with this condition.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
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 trends in the level of childhood obesity in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is not available by parliamentary constituency but is available at a local authority district level.
The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) collects data on children aged four to five years old, namely those in Reception, and 10 to 11 years old, namely those in Year 6. It provides detailed trend data on children’s weight status, including childhood obesity.
Data on obesity prevalence from the NCMP for the four academic years 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25 is provided in the attached table, with 2024/25 being the most recent year for which data is available. For the Gloucester local authority district, the prevalence of obesity in 2024/25 for both children aged four to five years old, and those aged 10 to 11 years old is similar to the values for 2021/22.
Data for England is also included in the table for comparison. For children aged four to five years old, prevalence of obesity in Gloucester has been similar to the prevalence in England between 2021/22 and 2024/25. For children aged 10 to 11 years old, the prevalence of obesity was higher in Gloucester compared to England in 2022/23 and 2024/25, and similar to England in 2021/22 and 2023/24.
Data for Gloucester on child obesity for children in Reception is available on Fingertips at the following link:
Data for Gloucester on child obesity for children in Year 6 is available on Fingertips at the following link:
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
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 help improve the uptake of diabetes checks in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Gloucestershire has a county wide programme in place to improve diabetes care and increase uptake of these checks. Current actions include:
These steps aim to support earlier diagnosis, more consistent monitoring, and better outcomes for people living with diabetes in Gloucester and across the county.
The latest data from the quarterly National Diabetes Audit for 2025/26 indicates Gloucestershire’s steady improvement in both the delivery of key checks and the achievement of the recommended treatment targets for people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Millions more appointments as more than 2,000 extra GPs recruited, published on 24 July 2025, how many additional GP appointments have been delivered in Gloucester constituency in the current financial year to date compared to the previous financial year at that point.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From December 2024 to December 2025, we have delivered 6.8 million more general practice appointments for patients in England than during the same period in the previous year.
In the Gloucestershire constituency, between April 24 and December 24, a total of 578,193 appointments were delivered. However, during the same period the following year, from April 25 to December 25, the number of appointments dropped to 564,172, indicating a decrease of 14,021.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
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 community health services in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community health services are a fundamental part of the health and care system and an essential building block in developing a neighbourhood health service. That is why we have set a clear ambition for community health services through our Medium Term Planning Framework.
For the first time, we have set a target for systems to work to reduce long waits for community health services. By 2028/29 at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks, bringing community health services in line with targets for elective care.
To support the shift to neighbourhood health, we have published for the first time an overview of the core community health services, via Standardising Community Health Services, that integrated care boards should consider when planning for their local populations to support improved commissioning and delivery of community health services.
In Gloucestershire, we remain committed to the principle of joined up services and support being delivered in neighbourhoods and communities where possible. In line with the 10-Year Health Plan, we will continue to support integration from the bottom up through our dedicated and innovative work in primary care networks and further development of integrated neighbourhood teams.
Community health services in Gloucester continue to be strengthened through the development of primary care networks and integrated neighbourhood teams. These bring together general practices, community clinicians, social care, and voluntary sector partners to provide more joined up and proactive support.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
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 dental services in a) Gloucester and b) Gloucestershire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Gloucester constituency, this is the Gloucestershire ICB.
We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available since April 2025.
ICBs are recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, on 16 December we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments. Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients waited longer than 12 hours in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in December (a) 2024 and (b) 2025; and what steps is he taking to help reduce A&E waiting times.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England began publishing data on 12-hour accident and emergency waits at a site level from October 2025. Figures for the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital are available at the following link:
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements this winter and beyond. We are aiming for 78% of patients to be seen in four hours this year, meaning over 800,000 people will receive more timely care.
We are investing £250 million into expanding same day and urgent care services, helping avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.
We have also introduced new clinical operational standards for the first 72 hours of care to support better hospital flow. These set minimum expectations for timely review, availability of advice, and coordinated care when multiple specialist teams are involved.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the additional 6,700 Mental Health workers recruited nationally are working in (a) Gloucester constituency and (b) NHS Gloucestershire.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data for the Gloucester constituency is not available, as workforce information is not collected at a parliamentary constituency level.
Between June 2024 and October 2025, the NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board saw an increase of 128 full‑time equivalent mental health staff, rising from 1,416 to 1,544, representing 9.1% growth, compared with 5% nationally over the same period.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
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 improve patient access to GPs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In our manifesto we said that we will end the 8am scramble, and that is precisely what we are doing.Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated to support digital transformation as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In advance of the 10-Year Health Plan’s publication, the Government confirmed an allocation of up to £10 billion for National Health Service digital, data, and technology through the Spending Review. This is a nearly 50% uplift on current investment, with a 3% real terms uplift overall.
That investment will support delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan, while yielding substantial improvements in the public experience of using the NHS, and in the experience of staff working for it. It will also make a material contribution to achieving the 2% productivity target and wider efficiency targets.