Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was in accident and emergency (a) at Bolton Hospital, (b) in each region and (c) in the UK in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes information on accident and emergency waiting times in England, although not at a hospital site or regional level. The following table shows the provisional median total time waited in accident and emergency at the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, and the national figure for England, in February 2025:
Location | Median total time in accident and emergency in minutes |
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust | 194 |
England | 171 |
Source: NHS England’s Provisional Accident and Emergency Quality Indicators for England, February 2025, by provider, available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/provisional-accident-and-emergency-quality-indicators-for-england/february-2025-by-provider
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on levels of patient demand at Leigh walk-in centre.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the information requested. NHS England publishes official statistics for accident and emergency attendances at a provider, National Health Service trust level. Information for the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust is available at the following link:
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on General Practice coverage per population (a) in Leigh, (b) in each region and (c) in England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) general practitioners (GPs), direct patient care staff (DPC), and nurses per 10,000 registered patients in Leigh and in each region of England:
Area | Number of FTE GPs per 10,000 registered patients | Number of FTE DPC staff per 10,000 registered patients | Number of FTE nurses per 10,000 registered patients |
National | 5.82 | 2.70 | 2.57 |
London | 4.97 | 1.71 | 1.31 |
South East | 5.36 | 3.00 | 2.52 |
South West | 6.20 | 3.67 | 3.48 |
Midlands | 6.16 | 2.56 | 2.64 |
North East and Yorkshire | 6.39 | 3.05 | 3.28 |
East of England | 5.46 | 3.21 | 2.71 |
North West | 6.44 | 2.31 | 2.66 |
Leigh and Atherton | 4.97 | 1.32 | 2.06 |
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to implement the findings of the Care Quality Commission Community Mental Health Survey 2024, published on 4 April 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome the Care Quality Commission’s Community Mental Health Survey 2024, and we are carefully considering its findings.
Too many people with mental health issues are not getting the support or care that they need. The Government is committed to changing that by improving mental health care across the spectrum of need, from serious mental illness to common mental health conditions.
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, create a network of open access community Young Futures hubs, recruit 8,500 mental health workers to ease pressure on busy mental health services, and modernise the Mental Health Act.
The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will set out an agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, including moving care from hospitals to the community. NHS England is currently piloting neighbourhood based, open access community mental health centres in six areas to support people experiencing mental ill health.
We are committing £26 million in capital investment to open new mental health crisis centres, thereby reducing pressure on busy accident and emergency services, and ensuring people have the support they need when and where they need it.
We have also committed £75 million of capital investment to reduce out-of-area placements.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to consult on extending the list of conditions patients can be treated for under the Pharmacy First scheme.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will make sure the National Health Service has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it. We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
Employers clearly have a key role in retaining staff and making jobs in community pharmacy attractive. To support employers, NHS England has provided several fully funded national training opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to help support private contractors deliver quality NHS services, including Pharmacy First.
NHS England is keeping the Pharmacy First service under close review. In addition, a National Institute for Health and Care Research evaluation of Pharmacy First will assess how the service has been implemented across England, including impacts on prescribing in the general practice setting, use of hospitals and how the service has impacted access to care and cost for different patient groups.
The Pharmacy First clinical pathways have been informed by guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and were designed with input from an expert panel of clinicians. NHS England is keeping the clinical scope of this service under review.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Pharmacy First service.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will make sure the National Health Service has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it. We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
Employers clearly have a key role in retaining staff and making jobs in community pharmacy attractive. To support employers, NHS England has provided several fully funded national training opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to help support private contractors deliver quality NHS services, including Pharmacy First.
NHS England is keeping the Pharmacy First service under close review. In addition, a National Institute for Health and Care Research evaluation of Pharmacy First will assess how the service has been implemented across England, including impacts on prescribing in the general practice setting, use of hospitals and how the service has impacted access to care and cost for different patient groups.
The Pharmacy First clinical pathways have been informed by guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and were designed with input from an expert panel of clinicians. NHS England is keeping the clinical scope of this service under review.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of community pharmacists.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will make sure the National Health Service has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it. We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
Employers clearly have a key role in retaining staff and making jobs in community pharmacy attractive. To support employers, NHS England has provided several fully funded national training opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to help support private contractors deliver quality NHS services, including Pharmacy First.
NHS England is keeping the Pharmacy First service under close review. In addition, a National Institute for Health and Care Research evaluation of Pharmacy First will assess how the service has been implemented across England, including impacts on prescribing in the general practice setting, use of hospitals and how the service has impacted access to care and cost for different patient groups.
The Pharmacy First clinical pathways have been informed by guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and were designed with input from an expert panel of clinicians. NHS England is keeping the clinical scope of this service under review.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of the legal right to a care supporter in a health and social care setting.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) Fundamental Standard on Visiting and Accompanying (Regulation 9A) came into force on 6 April 2024 to strengthen requirements for CQC registered care homes, hospitals, and hospices to facilitate visiting, unless there are exceptional circumstances which mean that it is not safe to do so. This can be a visit from a family member, a friend, or a person visiting to provide companionship or support, for example, a care supporter.
We will conduct a review of Regulation 9A from April 2025, 12 months on from the legislation coming into force, to assess whether the legislation has been effective in addressing concerns about visiting in health and care settings. Depending on the outcome of the review, we will consider whether further action is needed.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase levels of retention in the NHS workforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Every day, millions of NHS staff go the extra mile to make a broken system work as well as it can for their patients.
As we develop our ten-year plan for the NHS - and the Long Term Workforce Plan that will support it – a critical concern will be ensuring we have the modern, positive, and supportive working environment needed to retain them, motivate them and enable them to provide the high quality care they want to give to patients.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
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 adequacy of the funding model for hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people, and their loved ones, at the end of life.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by ICB area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth and range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
We understand that, financially, times are difficult for many voluntary and charitable organisations, including hospices, due to the increased cost of living. We want a society where these costs are manageable for both voluntary organisations, like hospices, and the people whom they serve.
We, alongside NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.