Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost of providing free on-site parking to all NHS staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No estimate has been made of the potential parking costs on National Health Service staff. All NHS trusts that charge for hospital car parking provide free parking for those in-most need. This includes frequent outpatient attenders, parents of sick children staying overnight, blue badge holders, and NHS staff working overnight.
Data on the income from car parking charges is published annually through the NHS Estates Return Information Collection. The latest figures, from 2023/24, show that income received from patients, visitors, and staff for parking on NHS hospital sites in 2023/24 was £242,832,309. Data for the income from NHS trusts for carparking is available at the following link:
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
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 average time taken to carry out postmortems by pathologists ordered by a coroner in (a) the UK and (b) North Yorkshire.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made an estimate of the average time taken to carry out postmortems ordered by a coroner.
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
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 number of qualified pathologists specialising in paediatric pathology (a) in total and (b) in the Scarborough Hull York Pathology Service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of the number of qualified pathologists or paediatric pathologists either across England or at the Scarborough, Hull, and York Pathology Service.
The Department is aware that workforce shortages in paediatric and perinatal pathology have led to longer turnaround times for hospital post-mortem reports in some areas of England. NHS England has therefore established a national work programme to address shortages in paediatric and perinatal pathologists. A £20,000 recruitment incentive for new trainees has been introduced, with further initiatives underway to review the training pathway, develop advanced practitioner roles, and implement a retention strategy for existing staff.
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
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 number of qualified pathologists working (a) in total and (b) in the Scarborough Hull York Pathology Service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of the number of qualified pathologists or paediatric pathologists either across England or at the Scarborough, Hull, and York Pathology Service.
The Department is aware that workforce shortages in paediatric and perinatal pathology have led to longer turnaround times for hospital post-mortem reports in some areas of England. NHS England has therefore established a national work programme to address shortages in paediatric and perinatal pathologists. A £20,000 recruitment incentive for new trainees has been introduced, with further initiatives underway to review the training pathway, develop advanced practitioner roles, and implement a retention strategy for existing staff.
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
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 endometriosis services in the North East.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we build a National Health Service fit for the future, and women’s equality will be at the heart of our missions. We have also taken urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan. In gynaecology, the plan supports innovative models offering patients care closer to home as well as the piloting of gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding.
We encourage any woman or girl with symptoms of endometriosis to contact their general practice (GP). Within the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, a GP may then refer a patient to a secondary care service, and in the Scarborough and Whitby area this will likely be to one of two services. Firstly, there is an endometriosis centre based in York Hospital, with further information available at the following link:
This is accredited by the British Society of Gynaecology Endoscopy and includes a multi-disciplinary team of experts providing high-quality, evidence-based care and treatment for people with all grades of endometriosis. Secondly, there is a Gynaecology Service at South Tees Hospital, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/services/gynaecology/
This includes an endometriosis specialist, provided from James Cook University Hospital in Middlesborough, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.southtees.nhs.uk/consultants/miss-pinky-khatri/
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to introduce a cap for social care costs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
His Majesty’s Government inherited a commitment to implement charging reforms, including a cap on personal care costs, in October 2025. Regrettably, funding for these reforms had not been guaranteed, preparations for full rollout were not on track, and thus it was impossible to deliver these reforms by next October.
This government remains committed to reforming the adult social care sector; and we are launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service.
Chaired by Baroness Louise Casey and reporting to the Prime Minister, the Commission will be comprehensive and will build on the expert proposals of other reviews, including that of Sir Andrew Dilnot into care funding and support. It will be broader and wider than ever before, asking essential questions about the shape and future of the social care sector, including what long-term and sustainable funding solutions should look like.
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
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 continuing care assessments resulted in eligibility in (a) the Yorkshire and Humber Integrated Care Board and (b) England in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) standard assessments completed, as well as the number and proportion assessed as eligible, in 2023/24, for England and the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board:
Area | Standard CHC assessments completed | Number assessed as eligible | Percentage assessed as eligible |
England | 51,165 | 10,791 | 21% |
NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board | 1,548 | 272 | 18% |
It is not possible to calculate the proportion of cases that became no longer eligible as a specific sub-set of the cases found eligible in that same year. The number of no longer eligible cases in 2023/24 will relate to all cases that became no longer eligible during 2023/24, which could include cases that were eligible before that year, as well as cases that became eligible in that year.
The following table shows the number of those eligible for standard CHC, as well as the number and proportion of cases no longer eligible, for the year 2023/24 to date, for England and the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board:
Area | Number eligible for standard CHC | Number no longer eligible for NHS CHC | Percentage of eligible cases no longer eligible for standard CHC |
England | 47,871 | 13,669 | 29% |
NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board | 1,451 | 367 | 25% |
Note: no longer eligible may be for a variety of reasons, including individuals no longer meeting the criteria, the client being deceased, the client or family withdrawing, etc.
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of continuing care assessments that result in eligibility in (a) the Yorkshire and Humber Integrated Care Board area and (b) England are subsequently removed at a later stage.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) standard assessments completed, as well as the number and proportion assessed as eligible, in 2023/24, for England and the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board:
Area | Standard CHC assessments completed | Number assessed as eligible | Percentage assessed as eligible |
England | 51,165 | 10,791 | 21% |
NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board | 1,548 | 272 | 18% |
It is not possible to calculate the proportion of cases that became no longer eligible as a specific sub-set of the cases found eligible in that same year. The number of no longer eligible cases in 2023/24 will relate to all cases that became no longer eligible during 2023/24, which could include cases that were eligible before that year, as well as cases that became eligible in that year.
The following table shows the number of those eligible for standard CHC, as well as the number and proportion of cases no longer eligible, for the year 2023/24 to date, for England and the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board:
Area | Number eligible for standard CHC | Number no longer eligible for NHS CHC | Percentage of eligible cases no longer eligible for standard CHC |
England | 47,871 | 13,669 | 29% |
NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board | 1,451 | 367 | 25% |
Note: no longer eligible may be for a variety of reasons, including individuals no longer meeting the criteria, the client being deceased, the client or family withdrawing, etc.
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
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 dental care provision in Scarborough and Whitby constituency; and whether he plans to take steps to help improve that provision.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dental Statistics - England 2023-24, published by the NHS Business Services Authority on 22 August 2024, is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324
The data for NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, which includes the Scarborough and Whitby constituency, shows that 42% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the previous 24 months, compared to 40% in England; and 60% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months, compared to 56% in England.
This Government is committed to tackling the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment.
Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
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 estimate of the number of dentistry practices in Scarborough and Whitby constituency accepting new (a) adult and (b) child NHS patients on the (i) most recent date for which figures are available and (ii) same date in 2010.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the data is not held for 2010, as of 9 October 2024, there were 15 open dentistry practices in the Scarborough and Whitby constituency, two of which were showing as ‘accepting new adult patients when availability allows’ and four of which were showing as ‘accepting new child 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, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist