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Written Question
Dental Services: Rural Areas
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

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 access to NHS dentist for people in rural areas.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The National Health Service contracts with independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings and practices have the flexibility to recruit locally to meet their specific needs.

From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards across England.

‘Our plan for patients’, announced in September 2022, outlined how we will meet oral health needs and make NHS work more attractive to dentists and their teams, including those in rural areas. This included improving the 2006 NHS dental contract to ensure fairer remuneration for practices providing complex treatment, enabling practices to deliver more activity than they are contracted to deliver (up to 110% of contract value), and introducing a minimum Unit of Dental Activity value of £23.

Other measures include working with Health Education England and NHS England to understand how Centres for Dental Development could be delivered to improve access in areas with a shortage in provision, which may include more rural areas.

We are planning additional reforms of the NHS Dental System to be announced later this year, with a separate long-term plan for the NHS workforce, which will include measures to strengthen and build capacity in the NHS dental workforce.


Written Question
Dental Services: Rural Areas
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

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 prevent closures of rural dentist practices.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The National Health Service contracts with independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings and practices have the flexibility to recruit locally to meet their specific needs.

From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards across England.

‘Our plan for patients’, announced in September 2022, outlined how we will meet oral health needs and make NHS work more attractive to dentists and their teams, including those in rural areas. This included improving the 2006 NHS dental contract to ensure fairer remuneration for practices providing complex treatment, enabling practices to deliver more activity than they are contracted to deliver (up to 110% of contract value), and introducing a minimum Unit of Dental Activity value of £23.

Other measures include working with Health Education England and NHS England to understand how Centres for Dental Development could be delivered to improve access in areas with a shortage in provision, which may include more rural areas.

We are planning additional reforms of the NHS Dental System to be announced later this year, with a separate long-term plan for the NHS workforce, which will include measures to strengthen and build capacity in the NHS dental workforce.


Written Question
NHS: Temporary Employment
Wednesday 5th April 2023

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

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 financial cost of agency, bank, and other temporary staffing costs at NHS and NHS foundation trusts (a) in total and (b) broken down by trust in 2021-2022.

Answered by Will Quince

The validated data is not yet published for 2021/22.

While the NHS Consolidated Accounts have been published, this does not include an explicit figure for agency or bank spend as it is bundled together with other spend items.

We expect the 2021/22 agency and bank spend data, for the National Health Service as a whole and for individual trusts, to be published this spring.


Written Question
NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts: Debts
Thursday 23rd March 2023

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2023 to Question 150442 on NHS Trusts: Debts, if his Department will publish a list of each NHS trust and NHS foundation trust in financial deficit in the financial year 2021-22 and its deficit.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department do not routinely publish lists of National Health Service trust and NHS foundation trusts in financial deficit. Each individual trust will report their latest financial position in their individual board papers and year-end accounts.

However, the following table shows provides a list of those trusts who reported a financial deficit at the end of 2021/22 based on the latest data made available by NHS England.

NHS providers in deficit 2021-22

£000,000

Mid and South Essex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

111.0

The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

6,039.4

Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

2,272.7

Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

721.0

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

6,328.2

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

3,629.0

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

5,646.0

South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust

3,478.0

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

13,179.2

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

362.0

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

23,227.0

Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust

1,438.0

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

543.0

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

1,538.0

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

2,858.1

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

1,356.0

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

6,834.0

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

1,052.4

The Shrewsbury And Telford Hospital NHS Trust

10,889.5

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

6,029.0

East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

9,723.0

Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust

1,633.0

Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

11,424.0

North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

1.0

East London NHS Foundation Trust

1,178.1

Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust

4,577.6

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

4,370.0


Written Question
NHS: Managers
Monday 27th February 2023

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his role is in (a) suspending or (b) removing poorly performing NHS and NHS foundation trust board Chief Executives and Chairs.

Answered by Will Quince

The NHS Oversight Framework details the overall principles, responsibilities and ways of working for oversight, including the key metrics and factors NHS England will consider when determining support needs, and the circumstances in which it considers formal regulatory intervention may be necessary to address particular issues with integrated care boards, National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts.

My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care maintains powers to intervene where there are significant issues with appointed leaders. The Health and Care Act 2022 provides a new duty for NHS England to inform my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care where it considers that my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care ought to make an ‘Intervention’ or ‘Default’ order in relation to an NHS trust. A Default order, where deemed necessary, removes a Chair immediately from post and an Intervention Order, Chair and Board members.


Written Question
NHS Trusts: Debts
Monday 27th February 2023

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

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 number of NHS and NHS foundation trusts in financial deficit in 2021-2022.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department has set out in its Annual Report and Accounts 2021/22 the following table which shows the number of National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts in a financial deficit position in each financial year. The table shows that at the end of the financial year 2021/22, 24 of 215 trusts were in a financial deficit position.

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

Gross Deficit

(2,433)

(2,755)

(1,560)

(158)

(126)

Gross Surplus

1,337

1,889

567

363

442

Adjustments

105

39

323

450

240

Net (Deficit) / Surplus

(991)

(827)

(670)

655

556

Number of trusts in deficit

101

107

53

42

24

Number of trusts in surplus / balance

133

123

173

177

191

Note: Other adjustments relate to minor reporting adjustments relating to differences between control totals and reported surplus/(deficit), where reported surplus/(deficit) includes items such as donated asset income and depreciation, changes in provisions discount rates and prior period adjustments not included in control totals.


Written Question
NHS: Staff
Wednesday 14th December 2022

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding settlement will support the forthcoming NHS workforce plan.

Answered by Will Quince

The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years. Funding plans beyond the current Spending Review period will be subject to the outcome of future Spending Reviews.


Written Question
Health: Disadvantaged
Tuesday 13th December 2022

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to publish a White Paper on health disparities.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Bootle (Peter Dowd MP) on 7 November to Question 74729.


Written Question
Gynaecology: Waiting Lists
Thursday 8th December 2022

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

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 the number of women waiting to access essential gynaecological care.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including in gynaecological services. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels. A proportion of this funding will be invested in workforce capacity and training and we have committed to invest £5.9 billion for new beds, equipment and technology.

Community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs will deliver additional activity, including gynaecological services. The Getting it Right First Time high-volume low-complexity programme aims to accelerate access to care and reduce waiting times, including endometriosis related surgery.


Written Question
Cancer: Medical Treatments
Monday 21st November 2022

Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)

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 cancer treatment.

Answered by Will Quince

The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including cancer services. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels.

The plan also sets out how NHS England will return the number of people waiting more than 62 days to start treatment following an urgent referral due to suspected cancer to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023. We have established 91 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) to ensure patients receive earlier diagnostic tests, including for cancer. We will deliver up to 160 CDCs which will allow the NHS to provide up to 17 million tests by March 2025, with capacity for a further nine million per year once fully operational.