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 staffing pressures in urgent and emergency care services in West Sussex, including vacancy rates, during periods of peak winter demand; and what support is available through national winter pressures funding.

The Government is clear that patients should expect and receive high quality care throughout the year, including during peak winter demand.

We started earlier and have done more than ever to prepare for winter this year. We continue to monitor the impact of winter pressures on the National Health Service over the winter months, providing additional support to services across the country as needed.

Decisions about workforce planning, including recruitment and vacancy management, are a matter for individual NHS employers who are best placed to assess local staffing needs and deploy staff flexibly to maintain safe and effective services. NHS England works closely with systems, including in West Sussex, to support local workforce resilience during the winter period.

Our immediate focus is on ensuring the resources already available are used as effectively as possible, with funding directed to frontline care, additional capacity, and improving patient flow. The funding settlement for this year included specific allocations for winter resilience and urgent and emergency care, which are being targeted where they will have the greatest impact.

We will continue to keep the situation under close review with NHS England and if further support is required to maintain patient safety and operational resilience, those discussions will take place in the usual way.