Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to maintain levels of mental health spending in line with planned increases in other NHS spending in (a) the next financial year and (b) the future.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance for 2024/25 makes clear that integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.
Further details on mental health spending for 2025/26 will be set out in the NHS Operational and Planning Guidance for 2025/26, following which we will provide an update to Parliament.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What steps his Department is taking to help reduce the number of people on NHS waiting lists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients are waiting too long to access the care they need, with the total waiting list standing at over 7.5 million. Last week we saw the welcome news that waiting lists have fallen. Since we ended the strikes, we have been ramping up delivery of the 2 million additional appointments that we committed to deliver (which is equivalent to 40,000 per week). The investment delivered by the Chancellor in last month’s Budget will be matched with the reform our NHS needs, to get patients treated faster.Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what financial contribution the NHS makes to the tribunal service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HM Courts and Tribunals Service is funded primarily by the Ministry of Justice. Where the National Health Service is party to a tribunal where a fee is levied, for instance immigration and asylum, and other fee charging special tribunals, they will pay this in the usual way. We would not expect the NHS to be a significant source of income through these tribunal fees, however the HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s annual report and accounts do not provide the level of detail required to be able to provide a figure.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable is for bringing forward proposals to update and improve mental healthcare.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our plans to update and improve mental healthcare will be shared in due course.
The King’s speech confirmed our intention to bring forward a Mental Health Bill to give patients greater choice, autonomy, enhanced rights and support, and ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect throughout treatment.
We will also recruit 8,500 additional staff across children and adult mental health services and introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that patients are supported in the community once they are discharged from surgical hubs.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In September 2023, NHS England published the Intermediate Care Framework for Rehabilitation, Reablement and Recovery following Hospital Discharge. This best practice guidance aims to improve patient experience and outcomes, as well as improving flow and discharge, freeing-up National Health Service hospital capacity for those who need it most.
Alongside the Intermediate Care Framework, NHS England published good practice guidance for Integrated Care Boards on increasing community rehabilitation capacity to support people leaving hospital and after they have received intermediate care. This includes therapy-led reablement.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure surgical hubs are fully-staffed with (a) allied health professionals and (b) other staff.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Action is being taken to increase and support the existing NHS workforce capacity. The Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) surgical hub programme has published workforce guidance designed to assist providers and integrated care systems (ICSs) in planning the workforce requirements for new or expanded surgical hubs. The guidance outlines key enablers for successful workforce recruitment, retention and planning, as well as helpful operational tools such as e-rostering and staff passports. The guidance focuses on surgical and theatre teams as well as on the wider hub team including allied health professionals.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 estimate of the number of new EU workers the NHS will need to meet its recruitment targets in each of the next five years.
Answered by Will Quince
Information on the planned recruitment of workers from the European Union over the next five years is not held centrally.
The recently published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan states that we will reduce reliance on international recruitment and agency staff. In 15 years’ time, we expect annually approximately 9-10.5% of new joiners to the workforce to be recruited from overseas, compared to nearly a quarter now.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 most important factors for the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS staff from EU countries.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made of the most important factors for the recruitment and retention of National Health Service staff from countries in the European Union.
The recently published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan states that we will reduce reliance on international recruitment and agency staff. In 15 years’ time, we expect annually approximately 9-10.5% of new joiners to the workforce to be recruited from overseas, compared to nearly a quarter now.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plan to publish the pre-exposure prophylaxis action plan prior to Parliament’s 2023 summer recess.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group is currently working to develop the roadmap, based on the PrEP Access and Equity Task and Finish group’s recommendations, to help guide our efforts to improve equitable access to PrEP for key populations. We will consider our response to the recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to meet with representatives of Versus Arthritis.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Versus Arthritis representatives have been in regular contact with the Department, as part of our programme of engagement for the Major Conditions Strategy. Their representatives have been invited to events including a Secretary of State led roundtable. We will continue to work with a range of charities including Versus Arthritis as part of our engagement work on the strategy.