Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of plans to outsource hundreds of staff by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust on (a) NHS services and the (b) healthcare workforce.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Contract award decisions in the National Health Service fall directly to individual NHS bodies, which are responsible for running their own procurement exercises. Ministers do not have general powers in legislation to direct NHS trusts in relation to the exercise of any of their functions, including in relation to specific contractual decisions. The NHS has established governance processes, in line with Government procurement policy and best practice, to assure that appropriate contractual decisions are made and represent value for money.

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust has advised the Department and NHS England that no final decision has been taken yet for the future provision of ‘Soft’ Facilities Management services across the trust’s sites. Staff and their Union representatives affected by the proposals have been fully consulted as the trust has progressed its plans. All the options in a formal Full Business Case (FBC) will be considered, following receipt and evaluation of bids received from potential external suppliers. The trust is not obliged to accept any of the bids submitted unless they clearly demonstrate value for money and deliver against the aims and objectives of the business cases.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to (a) bring forward legislative proposals to further regulate and (b) publish guidance on the (i) definition of the scope of practice and (ii) supervisory requirements for physician associates.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The legislation to introduce statutory regulation for Physician Associates (PAs) and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) was debated in the Scottish Parliament and both Houses of Parliament earlier this year.

Regulation by the General Medical Council (GMC) will begin in December 2024. The GMC will set standards of practice, education, and training, and will operate fitness-to-practice procedures to ensure that PAs and AAs can be held to account if serious concerns are raised.

Whilst statutory regulation is an important part of ensuring patient safety, it is also achieved through robust clinical governance processes within healthcare organisations, which are required to have systems of oversight and supervision for their staff.

NHS England has issued clear guidance on the deployment of PAs and AAs in the National Health Service, which describes the expectations of how organisations providing NHS care should deploy them so that they can contribute to the delivery of safe and effective healthcare in a supportive environment. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/summary-of-existing-guidance-on-the-deployment-of-medical-associate-professions-in-nhs-healthcare-settings/