Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department and NHS England are taking to ensure that (a) patients with acquired brain injuries (ABI) currently resident at the Kemsley Division of St Andrews Hospital are transferred to settings with the appropriate expertise in neuropsychiatry, ABI and neurorehabilitation required to meet their needs and (b) Integrated Care Boards have access to sufficient specialist knowledge to safeguard this patient cohort during the transition.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Securing appropriate placements and clinical support for patients sits with the relevant integrated care boards (ICBs), which commission and fund the individual packages of care. NHS England’s regional specialised commissioning teams work closely with ICBs to provide clinical oversight and advice, including on the neuropsychiatric and neuro‑rehabilitation needs of patients with acquired brain injury. This includes supporting commissioners to identify suitable services, ensuring placements meet required clinical standards, and advising on safe transition planning from the independent sector.
ICBs remain accountable for arranging and maintaining placements that provide the right multidisciplinary expertise. NHS England engages with local systems, including in Northampton, to ensure that any moves are clinically appropriate, safe, and consistent with national expectations for specialised neurological care.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on special severance payments in each of the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Over the three years fewer than five payments have been issued and the total amount spent is under £40,000.
Given the minimal number of payments made in the timeframe, we have provided a consolidated rather than annual response to avoid employees becoming identifiable where multiple data sources could be amalgamated.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of trends in the number of year on year changes to hospital handover delays in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England and the Department regularly monitor ambulance handovers and provide support to the most challenged trusts. NHS England publishes data on ambulance delays monthly, and the published trust handover data is available at the following link:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency regarding trials of puberty blockers.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has met with a variety of stakeholders to discuss gender services, including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Given that there are live legal proceedings, we are unable to comment on the details of the PATHWAYS trial of puberty suppressing hormones.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of specialist Parkinson's nurses working in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold centrally a constituency‑level breakdown of specialist Parkinson’s nurse numbers. Specialist Parkinson’s nursing provision across Lincolnshire is delivered through locally commissioned neurology and community services, with integrated care boards (ICBs) responsible for ensuring that patients can access appropriate Parkinson’s specialist support.
NHS England has advised that the NHS Lincolnshire ICB commissions the Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust to provide this service. There are currently four specialist nurses working with people with Parkinson’s across the county. The nurses work county-wide, which means that the ICB is unable to provide a breakdown for a specific constituency.
The Department continues to work with NHS England to improve access to specialist neurology services, including for people living with Parkinson’s.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people under the age of 18 who requested masculinising and feminising hormones were refused in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is not responsible for making prescribing decisions, as this is for determination by a patient's clinician, in consultation with the patient and family as appropriate.
No specific data is held on the number of different hormone drugs that may have been prescribed through the National Health Service. There are several different medications that can be prescribed for masculinising and feminising effects, some of them are branded medications and some are generic medications.
Regarding masculinising and feminising hormone request refusal, this information is not held centrally. This kind of information will only be found in the medical records of individual patients, reflecting the outcome of a clinical decision made by the individual patient's clinician.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many masculinising and feminising hormones NHS England have prescribed to people aged (a) 16 and (b) 17 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is not responsible for making prescribing decisions, as this is for determination by a patient's clinician, in consultation with the patient and family as appropriate.
No specific data is held on the number of different hormone drugs that may have been prescribed through the National Health Service. There are several different medications that can be prescribed for masculinising and feminising effects, some of them are branded medications and some are generic medications.
Regarding masculinising and feminising hormone request refusal, this information is not held centrally. This kind of information will only be found in the medical records of individual patients, reflecting the outcome of a clinical decision made by the individual patient's clinician.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to block NHS-backed trials of puberty blockers in gender questioning children.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting research that delivers a more robust, evidence-based understanding of gender incongruence support and treatment, especially for children and young people.
The Cass Review received cross-party support and highlighted remaining significant gaps in clinical evidence. The PATHWAYS study positively responds to the Cass Review’s recommendation that a trial of puberty suppressing hormones should be taken forward urgently as part of a wider programme of research.
Like any clinical trial, the PATHWAYS trial will only proceed subject to research approvals that follow expert ethical, scientific, and clinical advice.
The safety and wellbeing of children and young people have always been the driving consideration in every decision we have made regarding this trial and always will be.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 ensure that patients released from hospital who need a wheelchair get one as soon as possible.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services. This includes both temporary wheelchair provision to support hospital discharge and National Health Service wheelchair services which support people of all ages with long-term mobility needs.
NHS England supports ICBs to reduce delays and regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs. Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from clinical commissioning groups, now ICBs, on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. On 9 April 2025, NHS England published the Wheelchair Quality Framework, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets, and aims to tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
In October 2025, we published the NHS medium-term planning framework, requiring all ICBs and community health services to actively manage and reduce waits above 18 weeks and to develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits. The community health services situation report will be used to monitor ICB performance against waiting-time targets in 2026/27, and it currently monitors waiting times for children, young people and adults under “Wheelchair, orthotics, prosthetics and equipment”. These targets will guide systems to reduce longest waits and improvement initiatives to meet these targets may affect waits that are over 18 weeks and 52 weeks.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any civil servants hired by his Department were recruited over another person on the basis of a protected characteristic in each of the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Civil Service recruitment is governed by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, which requires that all appointments to the Civil Service are made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.
The Cabinet Office does not recruit candidates on the basis of protected characteristics. All appointments are made on merit, in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. Compliance with these principles is overseen by the independent Civil Service Commission.