Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the newly qualified GPs recruited since October 2024 trained in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the requested information as workforce and recruitment decisions are made locally by practices and primary care networks. As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is up to general practices to determine how they run their operations.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across the Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training. We will also prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the NHS for a significant period for specialty training.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 10 of the 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, who will decide whether patients require same day GP appointments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices operate as independent businesses with the autonomy to decide how they manage and triage patients. This enables them to adopt operational approaches that best meet the needs of their practice and patient population, as they are best placed to make those decisions. However, we are clear that we expect that decisions related to patient care are made using appropriate clinical processes and informed by medical professionals.
The Government is determined to work with the National Health Service to fix the front door of our health service and ensure that everyone can access general practice (GP) appointments and services when they most need it. Through our 10-Year Health Plan, it will be easier and faster to see a GP. The 8:00am scramble will end, we will train more doctors, and we will guarantee digital consultations within 24 hours.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will consider making resident doctors subject to legislation preventing strike action.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no plans to pursue legislative measures to prevent strike action by any National Health Service workforce group.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) operations and (b) outpatients appointments that will be cancelled if resident doctors strike on 25 July 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No formal assessment has been made of the possible industrial action by resident doctors on 25 July 2025.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what forecast he has made of the cost to the public purse of the planned strike of resident doctors on 25 July 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Resident doctors have announced strike action between 25 and 30 July 2025. The direct impact on the public purse will depend on the level of participation and service disruption within the National Health Service.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the national maternity and neonatal action plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care recently announced an independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services, and the establishment of a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce.
The investigation will produce, by December 2025, one clear set of national recommendations to achieve high quality, safe care across maternity and neonatal services, and will ensure that women and families are listened to.
The taskforce will then develop a national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care. The timing for the publication of the action plan will be announced in due course.
In the meantime, work continues to implement the actions set out in NHS England’s Three Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care also announced some immediate actions to boost accountability and safety as part of the Government’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future. This includes measures to hold the system to account, a system to better identify safety concerns, rolling out a programme to all trusts to tackle discrimination and racism, and new best practice standards in maternal mortality.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many newly qualified nurses there have been in 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes information on the number of United Kingdom trained nurses joining their register for the first time, who are resident in England.
The latest data available, from the Nursing and Midwifery Council March 2025 Annual Data Report, shows that 29,210 nurses joined the register in England for the first time, 19,670 of which obtained their nursing qualification in the UK.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the revised NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish our 10 Year Workforce Plan by the end of this year. The approach set out in our 10-Year Health plan means we will need a very different kind of workforce strategy. Instead of asking ‘how many staff do we need to maintain our current care model over the next 10 years?’, our new 10 Year Workforce Plan will ask ‘given our reform plan, what workforce do we need, what should they do, where should they be deployed, and what skills should they have?’
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
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 emergency departments were co-located with urgent treatment centres in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently 86, which is approximately half, type 1 accident and emergency units with a co-located urgent treatment centre (UTC).
Further co-located UTCs will be built as a result of the capital funding provided as part of our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what dates he has met the British Medical Association to discuss resident doctors (a) pay and (b) terms and conditions in 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met with the British Medical Association to discuss these issues a number of times. The dates and details of these meetings can be found in Department transparency returns, in the usual way.