Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) additional funding and (b) operational support his Department will provide to Integrated Care Systems in (i) rural areas and (ii) West Dorset in winter 2025-2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for determining funding allocations to integrated care boards (ICBs), including those covering rural areas and West Dorset. This process is independent of the Government and is informed by advice from the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA).
Funding allocations for 2025/26, published on 30 January 2025, include an ACRA-recommended adjustment specifically focused on rurality that reflects the additional cost of providing home-delivered community services in sparsely populated areas, and recognises the longer travel times required to deliver said services. Allocations cover the whole financial year, so there is not winter specific additional funding provided. Further information on funding allocations for 2025/26 is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/allocation-of-resources-2025-26/
All ICBs and trusts have developed their own winter plans, which were stress tested at regional events throughout September to expose any weaknesses and to be strengthen where necessary. We continue to work closely with the most challenged trusts, providing targeted improvement support to help them improve their four-hour and 12-hour performance, and reduce ambulance handover delays.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with regulatory bodies on the standards required of individuals providing ultrasound scans in non-NHS settings.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on the prevalence and use of private ultrasound clinics. No recent discussions have taken place with regulatory bodies on the standards required of individuals providing ultrasound scans in non-National Health Service settings.
While there are no legal requirements for those carrying out ultrasound in the Untied Kingdom to hold specific professional qualifications or registration, all providers in England who provide ultrasound scans must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and meet certain legal duties, which includes ensuring that anyone carrying out such activity has the appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the (a) prevalence and (b) use of private ultrasound clinics.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on the prevalence and use of private ultrasound clinics. No recent discussions have taken place with regulatory bodies on the standards required of individuals providing ultrasound scans in non-National Health Service settings.
While there are no legal requirements for those carrying out ultrasound in the Untied Kingdom to hold specific professional qualifications or registration, all providers in England who provide ultrasound scans must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and meet certain legal duties, which includes ensuring that anyone carrying out such activity has the appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience.
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 assessment he has made of access to ear wax removal services for patients in Newbury constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no specific assessment of services in Newbury because it is for integrated care boards to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local populations. Guidance for patients on ear wax build-up, including when to seek advice from a pharmacist or general practitioner, is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/earwax-build-up/
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many job vacancies there were for (a) Foundation Year 1 doctors, (b) Foundation Year 2 doctors and (c) specialty training posts in (i) England and (ii) Suffolk NHS region at the most recent date for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the number of vacancies for Foundation Year 1, Foundation Year 2, or specialty training posts in England or in the Suffolk National Health Service region.
NHS England collects and publishes data relating to the fill rates for training places in medical specialties. These are for the entry point of the initial recruitment processes for the specific training programme, rather than a measure of total vacancies at a given point in time. This information is available at the following link:
https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/fill-rates
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his department is making available for trusts to help reduce bed occupancy to the RCEM recommended level of 85% occupancy.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of our winter preparations, we are asking trusts to place a special focus on reducing bed occupancy ahead of Christmas, creating additional capacity and improving patient flow.
The Urgent and Emergency Care plan, published in July, focuses on those improvements that will see the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care (UEC) performance this winter and on making UEC better every day. The plan is backed by almost £450 million of capital investment for Same Day Emergency Care, Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centres, and new ambulances, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting the diagnosis, treatment, and discharge on the same day for patients. The plan supports a permanent shift in how we manage demand and patient flow.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) nurses and (b) other healthcare professionals currently exposed to hazardous medicinal products; and if he will publish an estimate of how many and what proportion of healthcare workers would be affected by the introduction of a definition of hazardous medicinal products.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an estimate of the number of nurses and other healthcare professionals exposed to hazardous medicinal products. The Department has not made an estimate of how many and what proportion of healthcare workers would be affected by the introduction of a definition of hazardous medicinal products.
Any incidents involving staff exposure to hazardous medical products are reported and handled through local National Health Service body reporting procedures. Risk assessments should be undertaken routinely and mitigations put in place to minimise any environmental exposure to health care professionals, and others, relating to hazardous medicinal products.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS (a) maternity wards and (b) perinatal services treat fathers as active participants in the birth process.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has committed to putting the voices of families, including fathers, at the heart of the approach to improving quality, safety and accountability in maternity services.
Baroness Amos’ independent national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services will ensure that the lived experiences of families, including fathers and non-birthing partners, are fully heard and used to inform the development of the national recommendations. A National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will take forward the recommendations of the investigation to develop a new national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care.
National bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of Midwives have issued guidelines emphasising the importance of involving fathers and partners in maternity and perinatal care. These guidelines set expectations for trusts to adopt family-centred care and to treat fathers as active participants, not just visitors or observers. These resources are available at the following link:
Fathers and partners can now receive evidence-based assessments and support through specialist perinatal mental health services where needed, with some NHS trusts now also working with Home Start UK’s Dad Matters project to support paternal mental health. The project engages with fathers to help them understand their baby, their role as a father, and how transition to fatherhood may affect them and their family.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not run any recruitment with the sole aim of increasing the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
The Department has not run any internship schemes but has participated in the following internship schemes, to deliver greater diversity in the Civil Service and make it more representative of the people it serves, in the past 12 months:
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what current unbudgeted pressures his Department is aware of within its spending plans.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2025 Spending Review was published on 11 June by HM Treasury and sets out departmental budgets for day‑to‑day spending until 2028/29, and until 2029/30 for capital investment. The 2025 Spending Review is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2025-document
The Department is now underway with a financial planning exercise to allocate budgets within those financial years. Spending plans will be set out in the Main Supply Estimates when published in due course by HM Treasury.