Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients waiting to start treatment with Medway NHS Foundation Trust in (a) July 2024 and (b) May 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Provider level consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times data is published on the NHS England website at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/
Data is published approximately six weeks after the end of the referenced month.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients waiting to start treatment with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in (a) July 2024 and (b) May 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Provider level consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times data is published on the NHS England website at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/
Data is published approximately six weeks after the end of the referenced month.
The number of incomplete pathways is not the same as the number of patients waiting, as an individual patient may be on multiple pathways.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 potential impact of applying the new Nutrient Profiling Model to advertising and promotions restrictions on food inflation.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the concerns about rising costs associated with the conflict in the Middle East. On 21 April, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government's approach to support for businesses and families with the impacts of the conflict.
Regulations relating to the Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) are not major drivers of food price inflation.
We have launched a consultation on the proposed application of the updated NPM to advertising and promotions restrictions, open until 17 June. A consultation-stage impact assessment, setting out the direct costs to businesses and the intended health outcomes, was published alongside this.
The current NPM is approximately 20 years out of date and does not reflect the latest evidence, particularly on free sugars, which are more strongly correlated with poor health outcomes, including obesity.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 distribution of medicines margin across the community pharmacy sector; and when the outcomes of that assessment will be published.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not assess the distribution of medicine margin across the community pharmacy sector. However, as part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework funding settlement 2025/26, the Department committed to a range actions to try to deliver medicine margin more fairly across pharmacy contractors and reduce over delivery which included improving and validating the medicines margin survey to underpin work on medicines margin distribution.
Further, along with Community Pharmacy England, representative body of community pharmacies, the Department assesses the overall medicines margin retained through a quarterly medicine margin survey which samples independent pharmacy contractors’ sale invoices to identify the actual price they paid for a sample of medicines and compares this with the amount reimbursed by the National Health Service. Comparison of the margin that is found in the margin survey, along with the amount of margin set as part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework, determines whether there needs to be any adjustments to payments made to community pharmacies.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 trends in the level of (a) respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions (i) in Chatham and Aylesford constituency and (ii) nationally; and what steps he is taking to ensure respiratory health is prioritised nationally.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.
Data is available for emergency finished admission episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. Data for Chatham and Aylesford is shown in the table.
Activity in English National Health Service Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector | ||
Westminster Parliamentary Constituency of Residence (Office for National Statistics) | 2024/25 (August 2024 to March 2025) | 2025/26 (April 2025 to November 2025, provisional) |
Chatham and Aylesford | 840 | 530 |
England | 608,449 | 423,588 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England |
| |
Available data on trends in respiratory conditions is available at the Department of Health and Social Care Fingertips website. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency, but is available at regional, county, unitary authority and integrated care board level. Information for Kent is available at the following link:
The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.
Through our community diagnostic centres (CDCs), we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 CDCs across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives. This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients waiting to start treatment with Medway NHS Foundation Trust in (a) July 2024 and (b) December 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The latest publication was on 15 January 2026 for November 2025 data. Data for December will be published on 12 February 2026.
At the start of July 2024, the number of pathways on the referral-to-treatment waiting list for the same trust was 43,820.
As of the latest published data for the end of November 2025, the number of pathways on the waiting list at the same trust was 37,104. The waiting list at Medway has therefore reduced by 6,716, or by 15.3%.
Reducing waiting lists is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission, and we are committed to putting patients first by ensuring that they are seen on time and that they have the best possible experience of care. Since the Government came into office, the waiting list for routine appointments, operations and procedures in England has now been cut by 312,369. This is despite 30.1 million referrals onto the waiting list.
Data on elective performance is published monthly, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients waiting to start treatment with Maidstone and Tunbridge NHS Foundation Trust in (a) July 2024 and (b) December 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the start of July 2024, the number of pathways on the referral-to-treatment waiting list at the Maidstone and Tunbridge NHS Foundation Trust was 44,761.
As of the latest published data for the end of November 2025, the number of pathways was 49,595. Published data is available at the following link:
https://data.england.nhs.uk/dashboard/rtt
Data for December 2025 will be published on 12 February 2026.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to deploy drone technologies carrying (a) defibrillators and (b) other emergency medical equipment.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Government is committed to innovation in drones and other growth sectors, and work is ongoing across Government, including between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Civil Aviation Authority, to support the safe and effective introduction of drones into medical logistics.
Last year, the Department of Health and Social Care, working in collaboration with the Department for Transport, Innovate UK, and UK Research and Innovation, supported five pilot projects, allocating them a total of £500,000 to explore the use of drones in the National Health Service. Given the potential of drones to improve how the NHS delivers patient care, the Department of Health and Social Care is supportive of trials that explore the use of drones in medical logistics.
Recent drone trials in the NHS have included pathology deliveries in Cornwall, blood deliveries in London, and the transport of chemotherapy to the Isle of Wight, where drone use reduced journey times from four hours by road and sea to a 30-minute flight
The National Institute for Health and Care Research has also funded a study into the use of drones to deliver defibrillators in emergency simulations, with more information available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/drones-could-deliver-defibrillators-cardiac-arrest-patients-uk
Currently, there are no plans to deploy drone technologies carrying defibrillators outside of trials. The Department of Health and Social Care continuously reviews the available evidence surrounding the use of drones in medical logistics and is supportive of new trials, including those involving defibrillators, to further build this evidence base.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients waiting to start treatment with the Medway NHS Foundation Trust in (a) July 2024 and (b) June 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Referral to Treatment data published by NHS England shows that the waiting list at the Medway NHS Foundation Trust was 43,722 at the end of July 2024.
Official statistics have not yet been released for June 2025, though the latest published data shows the waiting list was 40,087 at the end of May 2025. This marks a reduction of 3,635 in the waiting list from July 2024.
Provisional management information published by NHS England estimates the waiting list to be 39,980 in the week ending 29 June 2025.
Official statistics containing data for June will be published on 14 August.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients waiting to start treatment at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in (a) July 2024 and (b) June 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Referral to Treatment data published by NHS England shows that the waiting list at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust was 45,074 at the end of July 2024.
Official statistics have not yet been released for June 2025, though the latest published data shows the waiting list was 46,988 at the end of May 2025. This marks an increase of 1,914 from July 2024.
Provisional management information published by NHS England estimates the waiting list to be 48,944 in the week ending 29 June 2025.