Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 reduce the time taken to provide treatment for people with an eating disorder.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2024/25, we provided £106 million in funding to children’s eating disorder services, an increase of £10 million over 2023/24. This increase is helping clinicians to support more young people.
Between April and June 2025, 3,138 children and young people successfully entered treatment in community eating disorder services. This is the highest figure on record since 2021. At the same time, waiting lists to begin routine eating disorder treatment have shortened by 20% from the year before and we are working with NHS England to meet the waiting time standards for eating disorder services for children and young people.
NHS England is currently seeking to expand the capacity of children’s community eating disorder services, to allow for crisis care and intensive home treatment. Improved care in the community will give young people early access to evidence-based treatment involving families and carers, improving outcomes and preventing relapse.
We have also committed to expanding mental health support teams to cover 100% of pupils in England by December 2030, aiding school staff in recognising eating disorders and providing early intervention for children at risk.
Early intervention is also a priority for adults with eating disorders, as set out in the community mental health framework. NHS England has established 15 provider collaboratives focusing on adult eating disorders, which are working to redesign care pathways and focus resources on community services.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 support people with bladder and bowel control conditions in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
An Adult Bladder and Bowel (Continence) service is delivered via Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC) offering appointments for all residents in Birmingham, including in Sutton Coldfield, with a clinic facility in North Locality based at Sutton Cottage Hospital. The service offers face-to-face and virtual consultations and supports the community nursing service with patients who meet the housebound criteria with complex needs around continence management, catheter care or bowel management.
The service treats adults who are experiencing bladder problems or bowel dysfunction, with all patients receiving a high-quality clinical assessment and personalised care plan in line with best practice, and national driven guidance.
There are a range of investigations, including vaginal pelvic floor assessment, bladder ultra-sound scan or rectal examination, that are available through the service that helps to determine the best course of treatment, based on individual patient needs. Treatment may include lifestyle advice or interventions, pelvic floor exercises, bladder re-training, medication, specialist care or signposting to other appropriate services. The service also offers specialist clinics for young adults aged between 18 and 19 years old transitioning from Children's Services working in partnership BCHC’s Children's and Families Division. The service can be accessed by referral via a patient’s general practitioner (GP).
Housebound patients, including patients with psychological illness which prevent them from accessing a clinic, or following a treatment programme, will initially need to be referred to a Community Nursing service for assessment and treatment by the patient’s GP.
BCHC is currently scoping the use of containment products and ensuring they align with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance recommendations. A consultation and engagement plan, quality impact and equality, human rights assessment will underpin any decisions on the future model.
The average patient waiting times for clinic appointments at Sutton Cottage is 10 weeks, but urgent referrals can be seen within two weeks.
GPs also can access secondary care specialist advice and e-refer a patient to University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust’s (UHB) specialist clinics for adults with incontinence, overactive bladder, stress urinary incontinence, or bladder pain.
As part of the system’s work to transform and standardise care, between October 2026 and March 2027, GPs across Birmingham and Solihull will start to have access to digital tools for clinical decision making and case management via online consulting rooms with UHB urology specialists to speed up and improve access in health and care.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 access to respite care for unpaid carers in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the vital role of unpaid carers and is committed to ensuring they have the support they need.
The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, which can include respite support for carers.
To help local authorities fulfil their duties, including to unpaid carers, the 2025 Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 capacity of sexual health services in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities in England, including Birmingham, which is the upper tier local authority for Sutton Coldfield, are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access to most sexual health services (SHSs) funded through the Public Health Grant. In 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the Public Health Grant to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase, the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending. Individual local authorities are well placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the SHSs that best meet the needs of their local populations.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) supports local areas to improve SHS delivery through data monitoring and reporting.
The Government is committed to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030 and is developing a new HIV Action Plan in collaboration with the UKHSA, NHS England, and a broad range of system partners, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will have the key objective of stabilising and supporting system enablers to further support joined up working across the system.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 reduce accident and emergency waiting times in hospitals in the West Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years and is committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the National Health Service constitutional standard across England, including in the West Midlands.
Our Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26 sets out a fundamental shift in the approach to urgent and emergency care. It will drive collaboration across the system to deliver improvements for patients this year and is backed by nearly £450 million of capital investment.
Furthermore, our 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will reduce waiting times in accident and emergency by shifting care into the community through new Neighbourhood Health Services, forming a key part of our mission to reform the NHS.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 reduce waiting times for endometriosis treatment in the West Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of the end of May 2025, the latest available data, the Gynaecology Service waiting list, which includes those waiting for endometriosis treatment, for the West Midlands stood at 64,594, with 52.1% of patient pathways within 18 weeks.
As set out in the Plan for Change, we have committed to return to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients, including those waiting for endometriosis treatment, wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029, including in the West Midlands. We have supported this with additional investment in the Autumn Budget, which has allowed us to exceed our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered 4.6 million additional appointments up to the end of April 2025.
There are a range of efforts underway, nationally and in the West Midlands, to reduce the time patients are waiting for gynaecological care. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts we will undertake to return to the 18-week standard, and to ensure patients have the best possible experience while they wait. This includes increasing the relative funding available to support gynaecology procedures, including for certain endometriosis pathways with the largest waiting lists, and reviewing support options from the independent sector.
In November 2024, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence updated its guidelines on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis, which will help women receive more timely care. This includes updated recommendations that for women with symptoms of endometriosis, initial pharmacological treatment should take place in primary care, and that this can take place in parallel with additional investigations and referral to secondary care if needed.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 access to (a) autism and (b) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessments in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has recognised that, nationally, the demand for assessments for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has grown significantly in recent years, and that people are experiencing severe delays in accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future, recognising the need for early intervention and support, without the need for diagnosis.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for making appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including access to ADHD and autism assessments, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce to better understand the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support. An interim report was published on 20 June 2025, with the final report expected later in the year, and we will carefully consider its recommendations.
The NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB is working with regional and local partners, including Parent Carer Forums, to coproduce and redesign pathways of care to focus on addressing the health and social needs that arise in neurodiverse children, young people, and adults. The Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has also launched a 12-month pilot programme working with schools and community care providers to better support children, families, and professionals while they wait for autism assessments.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were waiting for treatment from community mental health services in the West Midlands in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since July 2023, NHS England has included waiting time metrics for referrals to community-based mental health services in its monthly mental health statistics publication, to help services target the longest waits. Data in the Mental Health Services Dataset is known to be incomplete and these figures may be an undercount. Information on patients waiting to access NHS Talking Therapies services is not included. The latest information on wait times for NHS Talking Therapies is available at the following link:
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to help reduce waiting times for cancer screening and testing in Sutton Coldfield constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government understands that more needs to be done to reduce waiting times for cancer patients. To achieve this, we have delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week during our first year in Government, as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.
We will support the National Health Service to transform diagnostic services by spending £1.65 billion on additional capacity, including new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners, to support the delivery of over 30,000 more procedures and 1.25 million diagnostic tests as they come online.
In bowel cancer screening services across Birmingham and Solihull, the integrated care board (ICB) has successfully implemented the age-extension so all people aged 50 years old or over are now eligible for a screening test and the service is meeting targets.
Delays in breast cancer screening in this region have caught up from the backlogs seen during the pandemic and are now in line with national requirements. The symptomatic service for breast screening is also meeting the faster diagnosis standard.
NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB is also running a cancer bus tour, stopping off at locations across Birmingham and Solihull, including two stops in the Sutton Coldfield constituency at Princess Alice Retail Park, across 18 dates throughout April, June and September 2025. Local citizens can talk to health professionals about the importance of cancer screening, learn how to check themselves for different cancers and find support to help them live the healthiest possible life.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
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 help reduce waiting times for ambulances in the West Midlands.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures on the National Health Service and the impact this is having on ambulance response times, including in the West Midlands.
We are determined to turn things around, our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in summer 2025, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.
The NHS Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, requires health systems to focus on those areas likely to have the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care services this year. The plan includes actions that will reduce category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes and reduce ambulance handovers to 45 minutes, helping to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road.