Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
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.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
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 accident and emergency capacity and performance at NHS trusts in West Sussex; and what support is being provided to those trusts to manage current levels of demand.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. However, we acknowledge that accident and emergency care performance has not consistently met expectations in recent years, and we are taking serious steps to address this.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, commits to at least 78% of accident and emergency patients being admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours by March 2026.
We are putting significant funding into expanding urgent and emergency service access for those most in need, including new Urgent Treatment Centres and Same Day Emergency Care facilities. This will mean 800,000 fewer accident and emergency patients waiting over four hours this year.
In July 2025, we published our 10-Year Health Plan which commits to reducing accident and emergency waiting times in the longer-term, shifting care into the community with Neighbourhood Health Services.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has has discussions with his counterparts in Northern Ireland on pressures on accident and emergency services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As a Government department, we work collaboratively with the devolved administrations to drive forward our objective of supporting people to lead more independent, healthier lives for longer.
While health is primarily devolved and each health system operates in its own context, there are strong benefits from sharing experiences and learning between the devolved administrations. While ministers have not recently discussed pressures on accident and emergency services in recent months, Department and NHS England officials periodically speak informally with counterparts on urgent and emergency care issues.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of patients waiting for longer than 12 hours in A&E.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the NHS Constitutional standard.
Provisional NHS England data for November 2025 shows that 7.2% of patients in England waited over 12 hours from arrival, an improvement from 10.8% in November 2024. Please note that these figures are provisional and may be subject to revision with finalised data published the following month. Both provisional and finalised data can be accessed at the following link:
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out a fundamental shift in the approach to urgent and emergency care, aiming to reduce the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10%. This is supported by nearly £450 million of capital investment to expand urgent and emergency care services across the country.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients waited more than (a) 12, (b) 24, (c) 48 and (d) 60 hours at A&E at Lincoln County Hospital in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Site level data including 12-hour accident and emergency waits has been published by NHS England since October 2025. Data on 24, 28, and 60 hour waits is not published.
Provisional NHS England data indicates that 13.4% of patients at Lincoln County Hospital waited over 12 hours in October 2025. Please note that these figures are provisional and may be subject to revision with finalised data published the following month. Both provisional and finalised data can be accessed at the following link:
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in Accident and Emergency attendances at Basildon Hospital relative to the growth of local population.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Basildon Hospital’s accident and emergency department primarily serves residents of South Basildon and East Thurrock, alongside patients from surrounding areas within the trust’s footprint. The combined population of Basildon and Thurrock is currently approximately 363,600 residents. The total number of accident and emergency attendances at Basildon Hospital in October 2025 was 12,475. Please note that this data is provisional, with finalised figures to be published next month. Attendances at Basildon accident and emergency have increased in recent years, broadly in line with population growth and rising demand for urgent care nationally. Accident and emergency attendance data is available at the following link:
The Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board works closely with the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to ensure urgent and emergency care services meet the needs of the local population. This includes reviewing recent and projected demand for urgent care services across all accident and emergency and minor injury units in mid and south Essex to support planning to meet future demand.
The capacity of Basildon Hospital’s accident and emergency department is subject to ongoing review. Local actions for improvement are in place, including service expansion and regular monitoring to ensure the Department can safely manage attendance levels.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the capacity of Basildon Hospital’s Accident and Emergency department to manage current attendance levels safely.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Basildon Hospital’s accident and emergency department primarily serves residents of South Basildon and East Thurrock, alongside patients from surrounding areas within the trust’s footprint. The combined population of Basildon and Thurrock is currently approximately 363,600 residents. The total number of accident and emergency attendances at Basildon Hospital in October 2025 was 12,475. Please note that this data is provisional, with finalised figures to be published next month. Attendances at Basildon accident and emergency have increased in recent years, broadly in line with population growth and rising demand for urgent care nationally. Accident and emergency attendance data is available at the following link:
The Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board works closely with the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to ensure urgent and emergency care services meet the needs of the local population. This includes reviewing recent and projected demand for urgent care services across all accident and emergency and minor injury units in mid and south Essex to support planning to meet future demand.
The capacity of Basildon Hospital’s accident and emergency department is subject to ongoing review. Local actions for improvement are in place, including service expansion and regular monitoring to ensure the Department can safely manage attendance levels.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to expand Basildon Hospital’s Accident and Emergency capacity to meet (a) current and (b) projected demand.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Basildon Hospital’s accident and emergency department primarily serves residents of South Basildon and East Thurrock, alongside patients from surrounding areas within the trust’s footprint. The combined population of Basildon and Thurrock is currently approximately 363,600 residents. The total number of accident and emergency attendances at Basildon Hospital in October 2025 was 12,475. Please note that this data is provisional, with finalised figures to be published next month. Attendances at Basildon accident and emergency have increased in recent years, broadly in line with population growth and rising demand for urgent care nationally. Accident and emergency attendance data is available at the following link:
The Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board works closely with the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to ensure urgent and emergency care services meet the needs of the local population. This includes reviewing recent and projected demand for urgent care services across all accident and emergency and minor injury units in mid and south Essex to support planning to meet future demand.
The capacity of Basildon Hospital’s accident and emergency department is subject to ongoing review. Local actions for improvement are in place, including service expansion and regular monitoring to ensure the Department can safely manage attendance levels.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the number of people in the Basildon Hospital catchment area served by its Accident and Emergency department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Basildon Hospital’s accident and emergency department primarily serves residents of South Basildon and East Thurrock, alongside patients from surrounding areas within the trust’s footprint. The combined population of Basildon and Thurrock is currently approximately 363,600 residents. The total number of accident and emergency attendances at Basildon Hospital in October 2025 was 12,475. Please note that this data is provisional, with finalised figures to be published next month. Attendances at Basildon accident and emergency have increased in recent years, broadly in line with population growth and rising demand for urgent care nationally. Accident and emergency attendance data is available at the following link:
The Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board works closely with the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust to ensure urgent and emergency care services meet the needs of the local population. This includes reviewing recent and projected demand for urgent care services across all accident and emergency and minor injury units in mid and south Essex to support planning to meet future demand.
The capacity of Basildon Hospital’s accident and emergency department is subject to ongoing review. Local actions for improvement are in place, including service expansion and regular monitoring to ensure the Department can safely manage attendance levels.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 assessment of the potential merits of an Accident and Emergency Appreciation Week.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government highly values hardworking National Health Service staff who go above and beyond to provide rapid and critical care. Local NHS trusts have in place their own approaches to recognising and rewarding staff, supported by advice and guidance set out in the Staff Recognition Framework, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/staff-recognition-framework/
Members of Parliament can also acknowledge the work of NHS staff in their constituency through the NHS Parliamentary Awards, with further information available at the following link:
https://nhsparliamentaryawards.co.uk/