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 impact of the New Hospital Programme Review on NHS staffing levels in Wave 2 and Wave 3 hospitals.

An equality impact assessment was carried out for the review of the New Hospital Programme which included assessing the extent to which service users, including staff, might be impacted by these delivery proposals, with specific reference to the impact that these might have on relevant protected characteristics. This was laid in the House Library and published on 20 January, and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-equality-impact-assessment

Appropriate National Health Service staffing levels are determined locally. We will publish a new workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.