Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to (a) increase funding available and (b) improve recruitment for community hospitals.

Departmental budgets for 2025/26 will be confirmed at my Rt Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s next Budget, on 30 October 2024. We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. There are a number of national recruitment programmes, aimed at increasing recruitment by widening access, supporting diversity, and attracting people new to care from local communities, as well as improving recruitment processes via the national Entry Careers programme and national Overhauling Recruitment programme. The Overhauling Recruitment programme seeks to support all National Health Service providers, including community hospitals. The national programme maintains a strong collaborative approach with regions as experts in their area, knowing their systems, geography, and demographics at a local employment level.