Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to prepare for winter 2023-24 in (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.

National Health Service winter planning started earlier this year than in previous years. The urgent and emergency care recovery plan was published in January 2023 which included £1 billion of dedicated funding to support increased capacity. NHS England and the Department have overseen implementation of the urgent and emergency care recovery plan across the country since its publication, including in the South West.

In July 2023, NHS England wrote to integrated care boards, trusts and primary care networks to set out a national approach to 2023/24 winter planning and the key steps to be taken across all parts of the system to meet the challenges expected from winter pressures.

The South West is also receiving £2,988,128 from the £40 million local authority Urgent and Emergency Care support fund. This fund is in addition to the £600 million Adult Social Care Discharge fund which was allocated in April – and is specifically targeted to support areas with greater challenges in urgent and emergency care, to help local authorities further boost social care provision to support admissions avoidance and hospital discharge this winter.