Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual budget for the NHS England Frontline Digitisation programme was (a) when that programme was established and (b) at the start of financial year (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) estates and (b) facilities related incidents related to (i) non-critical and (ii) critical infrastructure risk occurred in (A) all hospitals and (B) hospitals containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 cost to the public purse of awarding a pay rise to NHS junior doctors of (a) 5%, (b) 10%, (c) 15%, (d) 20%, (e) 25%, (f) 30% and (g) 35%.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The below table shows the estimated costs of various average pay rises for junior doctors above the existing 2023/24 pay scales which included an average pay rise of 8.8% :
Average pay rise | Estimated cost in 2024/25 |
5% | £400,000,000 |
10% | £900,000,000 |
15% | £1,300,000,000 |
20% | £1,700,000,000 |
25% | £2,100,000,000 |
30% | £2,600,000,000 |
35% | £3,000,000,000 |
These are estimates of the expected costs if the pay rise were given in 2024/25. They cover recurrent increases to the substantive pay bill, including employer national insurance and pension contributions, as well as knock-on impacts such as agency price increases. The exact cost will vary depending on the workforce size and composition.
These estimates do not take into account any wider considerations of the impact on wider National Health Service and public sector pay.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of prescriptions that were written by pharmacists in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service does not currently commission prescribing services from community pharmacists but pharmacists working in other NHS settings, including general practices, can prescribe on the NHS.
The following table show the total number of items prescribed, the number of items prescribed by a pharmacist, and the percentage this equates to in terms of overall prescribing in England, in each of the last five years:
Year | Total number of items | Items prescribed by a pharmacist | Percentage of items prescribed by a pharmacist |
2019 | 1,118,845,270 | 22,089,868 | 1.97% |
2020 | 1,122,769,640 | 30,824,967 | 2.75% |
2021 | 1,128,633,578 | 36,145,631 | 3.20% |
2022 | 1,162,723,444 | 40,701,768 | 3.50% |
2023 | 1,203,435,207 | 45,713,123 | 3.80% |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
The number of pharmacists that are independent prescribers is increasing. From 2026 all newly qualified pharmacists will be prescribers and we are upskilling the current workforce. NHS England are piloting services with varying models to evaluate how this could work in future clinical services in community pharmacy. In future, prescribing in community pharmacy has the potential to unlock more clinical services in community pharmacy, taking further pressure off general practice.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason there was an increase in death rates among 20-44 year olds in 2023 from 2019.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities provides recent estimates of excess mortality in England by age group. Estimates for 20 to 44 year olds are not available, but data are published for those aged 25 to 49. These show that in 2023, deaths in this age group were 3% lower than expected. The number of expected deaths is based on the trend in mortality rates for this age group in the 5 years before 2023. This baseline excludes periods with particularly high numbers of deaths from COVID-19.
This estimate for excess mortality in 2023 reflects, in part, an increase in mortality for this age group over the preceding 5 years. However, official estimates of mortality rates for this age group have not been published. The Office for National Statistics have also not yet released final mortality data or mid-year population estimates for 2023.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many community diagnostic centres are providing bone density scans.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of May 2024, 19 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are providing bone density scans, also known as DEXA scans. A total of 35 CDCs are planning to provide these scans in 2024/25.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the announcement at page 34 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, published on 6 March 2024, on upgrading more than 100 MRI scanners with AI, what the average time taken for patients to receive relevant test results is; and if she will make an estimate of the average time for such results to be received when the new scanners are in use.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on the average time taken for patients to receive relevant Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test results. The Department is, therefore, unable to make an estimate of the average time for such results to be received when the new scanners are in use.
The National Health Service expects that upgrading one MRI scanner with Artificial Intelligence (AI) acceleration software will lead to an average of 3.71 additional patients being scanned per day in addition to the current average of 24 scans a day.
The table below provides the figures which estimate that upgrading 100 MRI scanners will mean 130,000 additional patients receive an MRI test each year.
Additional tests per upgraded scanner (hourly) | Additional tests per upgraded scanner (daily) | Additional tests per upgraded scanner (weekly) | Additional tests per upgraded scanner (annual) | Scanners upgraded | Additional Activity (annual) |
0.31 | 3.71 | 26 | 1,300 | 100 | 130,000 |
MRI AI acceleration software enables scan acquisition time to be reduced, in turn enabling scans to be delivered in shorter time frames and therefore improving the time taken for patients to receive a test result from the point of referral. This is currently supporting the achievement of optimal levels of throughput to be achieved in 80 trusts, where 216 scanners have been upgraded.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.20 of Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, if she will publish the modelling used to estimate the number of patients that will be impacted by the proposed upgrading of 100 MRI scanners.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on the average time taken for patients to receive relevant Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test results. The Department is, therefore, unable to make an estimate of the average time for such results to be received when the new scanners are in use.
The National Health Service expects that upgrading one MRI scanner with Artificial Intelligence (AI) acceleration software will lead to an average of 3.71 additional patients being scanned per day in addition to the current average of 24 scans a day.
The table below provides the figures which estimate that upgrading 100 MRI scanners will mean 130,000 additional patients receive an MRI test each year.
Additional tests per upgraded scanner (hourly) | Additional tests per upgraded scanner (daily) | Additional tests per upgraded scanner (weekly) | Additional tests per upgraded scanner (annual) | Scanners upgraded | Additional Activity (annual) |
0.31 | 3.71 | 26 | 1,300 | 100 | 130,000 |
MRI AI acceleration software enables scan acquisition time to be reduced, in turn enabling scans to be delivered in shorter time frames and therefore improving the time taken for patients to receive a test result from the point of referral. This is currently supporting the achievement of optimal levels of throughput to be achieved in 80 trusts, where 216 scanners have been upgraded.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of repeat prescriptions that have been ordered through the NHS app in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently over 34.3 million sign-ups on the NHS App, enabling users to access a range of National Health Services, such as booking and managing general practice (GP) and hospital appointments, ordering repeat prescriptions, and viewing their prospective GP health record. The following table shows the number of repeat prescriptions ordered via the NHS App in each of the last 12 months, as well as the mean and total of repeat prescriptions:
Date | Repeat prescription orders via NHS App |
April 2023 | 2,449,182 |
May 2023 | 2,709,129 |
June 2023 | 2,650,714 |
July 2023 | 2,825,324 |
August 2023 | 2,885,337 |
September 2023 | 2,819,310 |
October 2023 | 3,105,964 |
November 2023 | 3,197,218 |
December 2023 | 3,124,667 |
January 2024 | 3,559,170 |
February 2024 | 3,349,017 |
March 2024 | 3,669,727 |
Mean | 3,028,730 |
Total | 36,344,759 |
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of bone density scans conducted in community diagnostic centres in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the number of bone density scans, also known as DEXA scans, conducted in community diagnostic centres, is publicly available in the NHS Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity (DM01) dataset. This data has been published monthly since March 2023, and is available at the following link: