Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department held with representatives of NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board in the 2025-26 financial year; and how many of those meetings related to the provision of GP services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The information is not held in the format requested, and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department provides guidance to GPs on the suitability of premises for the delivery of GP services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
Providers are expected to comply with Regulation 15 Premises and equipment in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Premises where care and treatment are delivered must be clean, and suitable for the intended purpose. Adequate support facilities and amenities must be provided where relevant to the service being provided. For general practice (GP) premises this includes access to toilets, adequate seating, and waiting space. The Care Quality Commission can take regulatory action for failure to comply, for instance issuing a warning notice to the provider to make improvements.
In 2025/26 we committed to investing £102 million to upgrade GP surgeries across England, through the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund (PCUMF). This has supported 790 capital investment projects across England so far, upgrading GP buildings by bringing unused space into clinical use to enable approximately nine million clinical appointments and improving capacity. We will continue the PCUMF, providing £200 million of further investment this Parliament. Capital guidance for 2026/27 to 2029/30 has been issued by NHS England, which sets out the framework for multi-year spend, and which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/capital-guidance-2026-27-to-2029-30/
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many extra GP appointments were delivered in Tunbridge Wells constituency in 2025/26 compared to 2024/25.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The following table shows general practice (GP) appointment data for the Tunbridge Wells constituency:
Financial year | Appointments in GPs |
2024/25 | 622,644 |
2025/26 | 614,065 |
We are working to expand capacity in GPs which will help deliver more appointments to patients. Changes to the 2025/26 GP Contract removed restrictions so individual primary care networks (PCNs) can hire more GPs, and we have introduced a practice-level GP reimbursement scheme, worth £292 million, which will enable practices to hire additional GPs or fund extra GP sessions with existing GPs. This will improve access, boost capacity, support GP employment, and continue improve patient satisfaction.
In the 2026 GP Patient Survey, 83% of patients in the Tunbridge Wells PCN reported a good overall experience of their GP, compared to 77% nationally. This is an increase from 79% in the 2025 survey.
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Kent and Medway ICB has submitted Neighbourhood Health Centre proposals for (i) Lonsdale, (ii) Grosvenor & St James, (iii) Kingswood and (iv) Speldhurst & Greggswood GP surgeries.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We are working to deliver 250 neighbourhood health centres by 2035. The first 120 centres, expected by 2030, will be delivered through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme using a mix of public investment and a new model of public–private partnerships.
We are currently assessing Neighbourhood Health Centre proposals submitted by integrated care boards (ICBs). We received proposals from all regions, and all those submitted by the 28 May 2026 deadline are being assessed. We will notify ICBs of the outcomes over the coming weeks and months.
ICBs hold the relevant information on Neighbourhood Health Centre proposal submissions and we encourage MPs to continue to engage with their local ICBs as they develop their Neighbourhood Health Centre schemes.
Asked by: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the current ratio of GPs to patients is in Tunbridge Wells constituency; how this compares to five years ago; whether a threshold exists for the ratio of GPs to patients above which additional GP provision is required; and what criteria are used to determine when GP services should be expanded.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
Tunbridge Wells had 5.1 full time equivalent doctors in general practice (GP) per 10,000 patients in March 2026, the most recent comparable month for which data is available. This compares with 5.2 in March 2021.
Each practice is required to provide services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients. The demands each patient places on their practice 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.
No threshold exists for the ratio of GPs to patients above which additional GP provision is required. As independent contractors to the National Health Service, it is down to practices to determine the staffing and skills mix they recruit.
We are taking steps to boost capacity in GPs and support practices and primary care networks (PCNs) to recruit more GPs. Since October 2024, we have funded PCNs with an additional £160 million to recruit recently qualified GPs through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. Over 2,200 individual GPs are currently in post as a result of the scheme, preventing them graduating into unemployment and increasing clinical capacity. This was a measure to respond to feedback from the profession and to help solve an immediate issue of GP unemployment.
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: Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women's health hubs have been established in NHS Kent and Medway ICB; and what services they provide.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Four pilot women’s health hubs were established in NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board in 2024/25 as part of a £25million nationwide investment in women’s health. The pilots were delivered through existing primary care networks (PCNs) rather than separate commissioned organisations.
Being pilot hubs, each hub model was set up according to local population needs, focusing on the core services set out in the national specification. This includes assessment, treatment and advice for menstrual problems, menopause, contraception, preconception health, breast pain, pessary care and cervical screening, as well as screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and HIV screening.
Funding was also used to support education and upskilling across the wider primary and community care workforce in Kent and Medway.
The wider expectation is that all PCNs across Kent and Medway that have benefitted from the education and training programme should be able to provide high-quality, competent assessment and management of women's health conditions within primary care as part of neighbourhood health. Women should not be reliant on attending one of the original pilot hubs to access good-quality care.