Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many junior doctors left the NHS workforce in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publish data on the numbers of National Health Service (NHS) staff broken down by grade, who have left active service in NHS trusts and core organisations. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), the HR system for the NHS. Data can be found here:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
The data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and integrated care boards, but excludes staff directly employed by general practitioner (GP) surgeries, local authorities, and other providers, such as community interest companies and private providers.
The count of leavers includes staff leaving to work in GPs, local authorities, and private providers. It also includes those going on maternity leave, or career breaks. Each year staff move both ways, between NHS trusts and other health providers. This is particularly important to note for junior doctors, as data on leavers will include those moving as part of planned rotations and placements into GPs or other settings.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with local authorities on how the targeted housing support interventions announced in the drug strategy housing support grant will be assessed.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the Government’s 10-year drug strategy, 28 local authorities are receiving up to £53 million in this Spending Review period, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, to further strengthen evidence on what housing support interventions support recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Local authorities have been implementing their services since funding was announced in February 2023, with funding currently confirmed until March 2025. Further information on funding allocation is available at the following link:
Assessing which interventions have improved drug and alcohol treatment as well as housing outcomes for this population, is a key strand of the independent evaluation of drug strategy investment into treatment and recovery, which is due to completed by December 2025.
Further information about the evaluation can be found at the following link:
https://d-sitar.org/evaluations/housing-support-grant-evaluation
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timetable is for the rollout of funding announced in the drug strategy housing support grant.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the Government’s 10-year drug strategy, 28 local authorities are receiving up to £53 million in this Spending Review period, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, to further strengthen evidence on what housing support interventions support recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Local authorities have been implementing their services since funding was announced in February 2023, with funding currently confirmed until March 2025. Further information on funding allocation is available at the following link:
Assessing which interventions have improved drug and alcohol treatment as well as housing outcomes for this population, is a key strand of the independent evaluation of drug strategy investment into treatment and recovery, which is due to completed by December 2025.
Further information about the evaluation can be found at the following link:
https://d-sitar.org/evaluations/housing-support-grant-evaluation
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the recovery support programme in (a) embedding improvements, (b) preventing further deterioration and (c) enabling stabilisation of services for the (i) Norfolk and Waveney, (ii) Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and (iii) Devon Integrated Care Board.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A formal rapid evaluation of the Recovery Support Programme’s effectiveness has been jointly commissioned by the Department and NHS England. This is due to be completed in spring 2024.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the average target timeline for exit from the Recovery Support Programme for those ICBs in segment 4.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A formal rapid evaluation of the Recovery Support Programme’s effectiveness has been jointly commissioned by the Department and NHS England. This is due to be completed in spring 2024.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with NHS England on the adequacy of integrated care board performance reports.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department undertakes regular discussion with NHS England on the performance and oversight of integrated care boards (ICBs).
NHS England conducted an annual performance assessment of the ICBs for 2022/23, from July 2022 to March 2023, and published supporting guidance for the ICBs.
NHS England published a summary of the assessment reports as part of its 2022/23 Annual Report and Accounts. All ICBs also published their individual Annual Reports and Accounts for 2022/23 on their websites. The Department is working with NHS England on its approach to the annual performance assessment for 2023/24.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of integrated care boards in financial year 2022-23.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department undertakes regular discussion with NHS England on the performance and oversight of integrated care boards (ICBs).
NHS England conducted an annual performance assessment of the ICBs for 2022/23, from July 2022 to March 2023, and published supporting guidance for the ICBs.
NHS England published a summary of the assessment reports as part of its 2022/23 Annual Report and Accounts. All ICBs also published their individual Annual Reports and Accounts for 2022/23 on their websites. The Department is working with NHS England on its approach to the annual performance assessment for 2023/24.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many vacancies there are in the NHS in each (a) region and (b) integrated care board.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes vacancy statistics for National Health Service trusts in England, on a quarterly basis. They cover the total staffing vacancies, medical vacancies, and registered nursing vacancies. The information published includes full time equivalent vacancy numbers and rates by NHS region. These measure the difference between funded establishment posts, and those filled by substantive staff. They do not indicate where vacancies are currently filled with temporary staff, and therefore do not equate to unfilled shifts. The latest figures can be found at the following link:
The underlying data supplied by NHS trusts is not usually aggregated and presented at an integrated care board level, however, it has been compiled in the attached file.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications her Department has received from social enterprises for funding for one-off lump sum payments for frontline NHS staff.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The majority of social enterprises fall within the category of community interest companies, which has been used to categorise the applications. The Department has received 20 applications from community interest companies.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the backlog of ADHD assessments.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. NICE guidelines for ADHD diagnosis and management aim to improve the diagnosis of ADHD and the quality of care and support people receive.
Data on the number of people waiting for an ADHD diagnosis and how long they have been waiting is not currently collected nationally but may be held locally by NHS trusts or ICBs.
We know how vital it is to have timely diagnoses for ADHD, and we are committed to reducing assessment and diagnosis delays. We are exploring options to improve data collection and reporting on ADHD assessment waiting times to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way and in line with the NICE guidelines. The National Institute for Health and Care Research has commissioned a research project to provide initial insights into local ADHD assessment waiting times data collection. NHS England is also currently scoping a national programme of work on ADHD.
With respect to assessments for ADHD for children and young people, we know that children and young people often seek an ADHD diagnosis through Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. The NHS Long Term Plan commits an additional £2.3 billion a year for the expansion and transformation of mental health services in England by March 2024.