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 discussions he has had with NHS Ambulance Trusts on the potential merits of enabling humanitarian charities to purchase end-of-life ambulances directly from them.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such discussions have been held. Information on decommissioned National Health Service ambulances is not held. Decisions on how to appropriately decommission ambulances is taken at a local level by ambulance trusts.
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 had discussions with NHS Ambulance Trusts on repurposing ambulances approaching the end of their operational lifespan for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such discussions have been held. Information on decommissioned National Health Service ambulances is not held. Decisions on how to appropriately decommission ambulances is taken at a local level by ambulance trusts.
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 the number of decommissioned NHS ambulances donated to humanitarian charities over the past 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such discussions have been held. Information on decommissioned National Health Service ambulances is not held. Decisions on how to appropriately decommission ambulances is taken at a local level by ambulance trusts.
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.