Asked by: Rebecca Harris (Conservative - Castle Point)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether provision for capital investment in (a) new and (b) updated healthcare facilities in Castle Point constituency is being made available over the next five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Significant capital investment is being made available to support both new and improved healthcare facilities across the NHS East of England region over the next five years.
The region has been allocated £536 million between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to increase secondary and urgent and emergency care capacity. This funding will support a range of local transformation priorities, including diagnostic facilities, urgent treatment centres, emergency departments, and the completion of elective and surgical hub schemes.
In addition, the region has been allocated £277.2 million through the Estates Safety Fund between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to address critical infrastructure and safety risks, alongside a further £346.5 million planning assumption for estates through to 2034/35.
The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has also been allocated £181.6 million in operational capital funding for the 2026/27 to 2029/30 period, which can be used to support the maintenance, improvement, and modernisation of healthcare facilities where this is a local priority.
Asked by: Rebecca Harris (Conservative - Castle Point)
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 estimate of the number of FTE GPs at surgeries in Castle Point constituency over each of the next five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
As independent businesses that hold contracts with the National Health Service, practices determine the staffing skill mix to best suit the patients they serve. GP services are commissioned and assured by integrated care boards to meet the needs of changing populations and demographics.
Total full-time equivalent GPs in Castle Point constituency have increased in the past five years, from 31.37 in May 2022 to 41.58 in May 2026.
Asked by: Rebecca Harris (Conservative - Castle Point)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the recommendations of the Hughes Report, Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Hughes Report, and will respond as soon as possible.
Asked by: Rebecca Harris (Conservative - Castle Point)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to the supplementary hours worked by pharmacists on provision of pharmaceutical services in each NHS locality.
Answered by David Mowat
The community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond reforms announced on 20 October were considered in respect of the public sector equality duty, the family test and relevant duties of the Secretary of State under the National Health Service Act 2006. This included the impact on the provision of pharmaceutical services by community pharmacies including supplementary hours.