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 the GP-to-patient ratio was in (a) Broxtowe constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire, (c) the East Midlands and (d) England in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of December 2024, the number of full time equivalent doctors in general practice (GP) per 10,000 registered patients was:
- 6.9 in the Broxtowe constituency;
- 6.5 in Nottinghamshire;
- 5.9 in the East Midlands; and
- 5.6 in England.
Data from before September 2015 is not comparable. Each GP is required to provide services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients. There is no NHS England recommendation for how many patients a GP should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients. The demands each patient places on their GP are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole, not only GPs but also the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients.
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 NHS dentists were employed in (a) Broxtowe constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) the East Midlands in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows how many National Health Service dentists were employed in 2011/12 and 2023/24 in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes the Broxtowe constituency, as well as regional figures for the Midlands:
Year | Number of dentists employed in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB | Number of dentists employed in the Midlands |
2011/12 | 448 | 4,016 |
2023/24 | 578 | 4,454 |
Notes:
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 plans to take to ensure workforce planning aligns with the availability of trained candidates.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
We will publish a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. Later this year, we will publish a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
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 progress his Department has made on the review of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan; and whether his Department has a planned timetable for publication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new workforce plan, to be published later this year, will be influenced by the 10-Year Health Plan and the Spending Review.
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 parents looking after ill children (a) in the long-term and (b) immediately after diagnosis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to supporting people with long term conditions and to ensuring that they receive the support they need, including referral to specialist services as appropriate. We want a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition, and their families and carers, receive high-quality, compassionate continuity of care.
The Department is taking a range of practical steps to support parents caring for ill children. Immediately after diagnosis and in the longer term, parents may be eligible for travel cost support through the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme. In cases where a child has complex health needs, they can be assessed under the Children’s Continuing Care framework to determine appropriate ongoing support. Wider work is underway, such as the development of initiatives to support parents in hospital settings. Counselling and mental health support are typically provided through local services, and peer support is often offered by voluntary organisations.
As per Section 97 (3b) of the Children’s and Families Act 2014, parent carers have the right to request an assessment of their need for support from the local authority. Having been assessed, Section 17 (10b) of the Children’s Acts 1989 makes provision for a child whose physical or mental health is impaired, as well as his or her family, to receive the appropriate support services from the local authority.
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 provide final year medical students assigned placeholder jobs with clarity on where they will begin working as doctors in August 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware that there is a delay in NHS England allocating some foundation year one doctors their programme details and work schedules. We have asked NHS England to urgently tackle this issue. We know there is more to do and NHS England is working to ensure that all posts are confirmed as soon as possible, while keeping applicants informed throughout the process, including through webinars.
NHS England is due to review the foundation programme allocation process to make sure it works well for applicants. The review is scheduled for after the 2025/26 allocations and is aiming to commence in 2026. NHS England will advise stakeholders on how they can input in due course.
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 GP practices (a) opened and (b) closed in (i) Broxtowe constituency, (ii) Nottinghamshire, (iii) the East Midlands and (iv) England between May 2010 and June 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table attached shows the number of general practices which have opened and closed between January 2014 and May 2024 in the Broxtowe constituency, Nottinghamshire, the East Midlands, and England. This is as far back as the data goes, up to the most recently published data.
This analysis only considers head practices and ignores branch practices. If a practice ceases to be a main practice and becomes a branch practice of another, this will count as a “closure” in this data, while in reality general practice provision at the site may well have continued under the new head practice.
Practices close for a variety of reasons, including mergers or retirement, and so this data does not necessarily indicate a reduction in the quality of care. When a practice does close, patients are informed of the closure and advised to register at another local practice of their choice within their area.
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 people with Multiple Sclerosis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services for their local population, including for multiple sclerosis (MS). The Government expects ICBs to assess the demand for service provision when designing their local services.
There are initiatives to support better care for patients with neurological conditions like MS, across England. These include the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, which aims to improve MS care by supporting the National Health Service to address variations in care and by promoting best practice.
The Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, published by NHS England’s RightCare Programme, supports healthcare systems in improving the care of individuals living with progressive neurological conditions, including MS. It aims to enhance local services and reduce hospital admissions by focusing on preventative care and by optimising the delivery of services.
NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP) is a multi-year programme to develop a new model of integrated care for neurology services. The NTP has collaborated with clinicians and patient groups to create specific pathways for MS, aiming to improve the quality and coordination of care.
NHS England is also updating its Specialised Neurology service specification, which includes MS. Service specifications define the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.
Our 10-Year Health Plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from the hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. We also plan to publish our refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver a transformed health service over the next decade and to treat patients wherever they live in England, including those with MS, on time again.
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 progress he has made on pay uplifts for NHS staff for the 2025-2026 financial year; and what steps he is taking to engage with UNISON to resolve disputes to NHS pay structure.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 22 May 2025, the Government announced that it was formally accepting the 2025/26 headline pay recommendations for National Health Service staff in England from the NHS Pay Review Body, the Review Body on Doctors and Dentists Remuneration, and the Senior Salaries Review Body. These awards will be backdated to 1 April 2025, and staff can expect to receive their awards from August.
All Agenda for Change (AfC) pay points in England will be uplifted by 3.6% for 2025/26. We have also accepted the recommendation to provide the NHS Staff Council with a funded mandate to deliver changes to the AfC pay structure. We will work with the NHS Staff Council so that we can implement the changes by 1 April 2026.
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing free Covid-19 vaccine boosters to people with long Covid.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The JCVI stated in its advice for the autumn 2024 COVID-19 vaccination programme that there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the impact of additional vaccine doses, beyond the primary vaccination, on the risk, progression, and outcome of post-COVID syndromes. The JCVI advised that better data is needed on the impact of additional vaccine doses on the occurrence and severity of post-COVID syndromes in the current era of omicron sub-variants of the COVID-19 virus, and high population immunity. This advice is available at the following link:
On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programmes in spring 2025, autumn 2025, and spring 2026. This advice is available at the following link:
The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice on eligibility for the spring 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme, to include those aged 75 years old and above, those aged six months old or above with immunosuppression, and those living in care homes for older adults. The Government response is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/advice-accepted-on-spring-2025-covid-19-vaccination-programme
The Government is considering the advice for autumn 2025 and spring 2026 carefully, and will respond in due course.