Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ask local authorities to improve signposting of support groups for unpaid carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. It is for local authorities to decide how best to support their local population, including how they signpost unpaid carers to support groups.
The Government recognises the scale of the reforms needed in social care. That is why we will set out next steps for a process that engages with adult social care stakeholders, including cross-party and unpaid carers, to ensure their voices are heard as we develop plans to create a National Care Service.
Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service is clear that a fresh approach to supporting and involving unpaid carers is required to improve outcomes for carers, people needing care, and the NHS.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the condition of Bedford Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and we recognise that delivering high quality NHS healthcare services requires safe, resilient, and effective infrastructure.
As part of the management of their estate, NHS trusts regularly assess the physical condition of their estate. The Estates Related Information Collection survey collects data from trusts on the quality of their estate annually, including the projected cost of bringing all the buildings on each NHS site into acceptable condition, recorded as backlog maintenance. The latest data on backlog maintenance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 ensure new GP surgeries are established in areas of population growth.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
GPs have been neglected for too long. They are under-resourced, struggling to cope, and patients pay the price.
We know that there is pressure on primary care estates and service provision in areas of high population growth.
General practice provides high quality care, and we are committed to shifting the focus of care out of hospitals and into the community.