Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of GPs who are (a) unemployed and looking for work and (b) under-employed and looking for additional work in (i) Broxtowe constituency, (ii) the East Midlands and (iii) England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data requested is not held centrally. Thanks to actions taken by the Government, we have the highest number of fully qualified general practitioners (GPs) since 2015, and steps are being taken to grow the GP workforce further.
We are investing £485 million in GPs in 2026/27, bringing the total spend on the GP Contract to over £13.8 billion. This builds on the £1.1 billion boost in investment in 2025/26. As part of the 2026/27 GP Contract, we are increasing flexibility of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) by removing the restriction that ARRS funding can only be used for recently qualified GPs, increasing the maximum reimbursement amount for GP roles to reflect experience, and enabling primary care networks to recruit a broader range of ARRS roles, where agreed with the commissioner.
Patient satisfaction is already rising after a decade of decline; in July 2024, only 61% of patients found it easy to access their GP. Currently, it is almost 77%.
Following feedback from the 2026/27 GP Contract consultation, we are introducing a practice-level GP reimbursement scheme which ring-fences and repurposes £292 million of funding from the current Capacity and Access Payment. This funding will be available to practices to hire additional GPs or fund additional sessions with existing GPs to improve access in GPs. This aims to strengthen capacity, access, and improve patient satisfaction, whilst also addressing GP unemployment and underemployment.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
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 GP practices are partner-run in (a) Broxtowe constituency, (b) the East Midlands and (c) England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has advised that, within the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire clustered Integrated Care Board (ICB) boundary, 65 out of 81 practices, or 81%, in Lincoln are general practice (GP) partnership model practices. 115 out of 126 of practices, or 91%, in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are GP partnership model practices.
Within the NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB boundary, 115 out of 126 practices, or 90%, are GP partnership model practices. Within the Northamptonshire ICB boundary, 64 out of 65 practices, or 98%, are GP partnership model practices.
Within the NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB boundary, 99 out of 109 practices, or 89%, are traditional GP partnerships. The other 10, or 11%, are partner-run, but not in the traditional way. Of these:
- four are managed by Royal Primary Care, Chesterfield;
- four are managed by Derbyshire Community Health Services; and
- two are managed by Derbyshire Healthcare United.
In the Broxtowe constituency, 11 out of 11 practices are GP partnership model practices. The Department does not hold national-level data, however, we expect that a large majority of practices in England operate as traditional GP partnerships.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
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 support GPs who are the subject of a complaint arising from a specialist denying a person a face-to-face appointment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As independent businesses who hold contracts with the National Health Service, general practices (GPs) are responsible for managing patient complaints relating to services delivered by their GP and the wider health system. In cases where specialist advice has been used, such as Advice and Guidance, and the outcome of the advice was that care management in GPs is clinically appropriate, the GP may still subsequently refer their patient again at any point if they have concerns. NHS England has published guidance for both primary care referrers and specialists to support effective use of Advice and Guidance.
For patients who have been under a specialist’s care, clinical governance procedures for the relevant provider will apply.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
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 support the availability of Peer Supported Open Dialogue in the NHS.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no national policy specifically focused on implementing Peer Supported Open Dialogue.
The National Health Service follows evidence when implementing any approach at scale and will respond to any future changes in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance. A research trial evaluating the impact of open dialogue in the NHS is due to report soon, at the following link:
Nationally, we are committed to working with local NHS mental health providers to develop a new approach for mental health in 2026, including through the upcoming modern service framework for severe mental illness.
The Department is also supporting the development of the evidence base on mental health care through research and evaluation, including studies funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to inform future decisions on effective models of care.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the number of hospitals and departments that doctors rotate through as part of Internal Medical Training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of continuity in postgraduate medical training for both doctors and patients.
Following the 2024 Resident Doctors Agreement, the Department, working in partnership with NHS England and the British Medical Association, established a review of rotational training. This review drew on some 13,000 responses to surveys and found that rotations can provide valuable breadth of experience, but that in some cases frequent moves can disrupt learning, wellbeing, team integration, and patient care
NHS England has developed pilots within the Rotations Review programme, and these are being recruited to with start dates in August of this year. As set out in the 10-Point Plan to Improve Resident Doctors’ Working Lives, these test longer placements, smaller geographic footprints, and more flexible arrangements for less-than-full-time trainees. The future work will become part of the Medical Education and Training Review. One of these pilots has focussed on Internal Medicine Training programmes being based at a single provider for the entire three years.
The evaluation of these pilots will inform future policy decisions on placement length and continuity benefits.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
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 (a) reduce delays and (b) improve (i) flow and (ii) efficiency in NHS Surgical Theatres.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the Elective Reform Plan, we are committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, which includes those waiting for surgical procedures.
The productivity and modernisation efforts needed to meet that standard includes the expansion of the number of elective surgical hubs. Hubs, which are protected from urgent and emergency care, improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital pressures by reducing cancellations and improving efficiency. They focus on high-volume, low-complexity procedures, support day-case surgery, and align with the standards of the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme, including a national target of 85% theatre utilisation. NHS England, in partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons of England, runs a surgical hub accreditation programme to ensure hubs meet best practice standards, including theatre utilisation. Currently, 125 hubs are operational, with 63 accredited. Theatre utilisation across all specialties reached 81% in August 2025, up from 79% the previous year.
To support these improvements, the National Theatre Programme, led by GIRFT since 2021, provides national guidance as well as targeted support for trusts to improve theatre productivity. To drive forward further progress, one of the areas of focus for 2025/26 is the establishment of ‘high flow theatre’ lists becoming regular practice across the country. Further national actions include earlier and more robust pre-operative risk-assessment to support earlier identification of patients suitable for treatment at hubs, productivity initiatives focussing on flow, scheduling, utilisation and workforce, and the deployment of data analytics and digital scheduling tools to improve real-time theatre management.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
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 support medical students' (a) wellbeing and (b) welfare in (i) Nottingham, (ii) Nottinghamshire, (iii) the East Midlands and (iv) England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The professional regulator the General Medical Council sets guidance for all university medical schools and placement providers, who have a responsibility to routinely monitor and support the health, safety, and wellbeing of students whilst studying and on placement.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of using the Multi‑Specialty Recruitment Assessment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Recruitment Board, which oversees specialty training recruitment on behalf of the four United Kingdom health departments, has governance processes which determine whether the Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment (MSRA) is used by a specialty in their selection processes, and how. Any new specialties considering using the MSRA undergo modelling before a decision is made.
NHS England will take forward reform measures to consider the future shape and delivery model for selection assessments beyond 2027. These will provide a decision point for NHS England on replacing the current MSRA with an updated assessment fit for purpose to be adopted by a broader group of specialties.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
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 improve GP Practice premises to increase the number of (a) consulting rooms to allow practices to train more medical students, (b) GP Registrars and (c) hire more GPs in (i) Broxtowe Constituency, (ii) the East Midlands and (iii) England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In May 2025, we announced schemes which were prioritised by integrated care boards (ICBs) to benefit from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund (PCUMF). This fund is to deliver upgrades to more than a thousand general practice (GP) surgeries across England this financial year. These schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care.
Building on this, the Government has committed £426 million of Utilisation and Modernisation funding over the next four years to continue upgrading the GP estate. This funding will also support refurbishing the existing estate to deliver neighbourhood health centres over this Parliament, as part of the 10-Year Health Plan commitment.
Through the PCUMF, the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB has committed £1.9 million to creating space for 250,000 new appointments for 2025/26. For the Broxtowe constituency this was an allocation of £335,000, which creates space for 52,500 appointments across two schemes in Beeston, and one each in Chilwell and Newthorpe. All clinical rooms are flexible in design so can be used for face-to-face clinical consultations with patients, used by GP Registrars, and/or to increase training capacity.
The Department does not hold East Midlands-level data. The Government has taken steps to grow the GP workforce. We currently have the highest number of fully qualified GPs since 2015, and we want to go further. Following feedback from the 2026/27 GP Contract consultation, we are introducing a practice-level GP reimbursement scheme using £292 million of repurposed funding from the current Capacity and Access Payment. This funding will be available to practices to hire additional GPs or fund additional sessions with existing GPs to improve access in GPs. We are also increasing the flexibility of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme enabling primary care networks to recruit more experienced GPs.
We are also committed to training thousands more GPs. We have expanded GP training places by 250, taking the total number of available places to 4,250 for 2025/26, and we plan to expand this again for 2026/27. Current and future expansions to post-graduate training, including foundation training and GP specialty training, have been planned on the basis of relative need, balanced with ability of locations to support trainees.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental students have undertaken training in (a) Nottingham, (b) Nottinghamshire, (c) the East Midlands and (d) England in each of the last 15 years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no dental schools in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, or the East Midlands. Consequently, no dental students have undertaken undergraduate training in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, or the East Midlands. The following table shows the number of entrants to undergraduate dentistry courses in England from 2012 to 2025:
Year of Entry | Entrants |
2012 | 875 |
2013 | 875 |
2014 | 800 |
2015 | 780 |
2016 | 800 |
2017 | 805 |
2018 | 810 |
2019 | 810 |
2020 | 895 |
2021 | 980 |
2022 | 815 |
2023 | 815 |
2024 | 830 |
2025 | 815 |
Source: Office for Students Medical and Dental Students Survey.
Note: data for 2025 is provisional as entrants are based on initial figures and may change.