Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 improve the integration of maternity, mental health and wider medical services for women identified as high-risk during pregnancy and the postnatal period.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the potential for continuity of care within maternity services to improve women’s experience of maternity care and reduce inequalities in outcomes. However, maternity services need to have enough staff with the right skills in the right places to implement continuity of care teams safely.
NHS England has encouraged providers to prioritise the establishment of Enhanced Midwifery Continuity of Care teams where staffing allows, which provide care to women and families experiencing the greatest vulnerability and social complexity to help reduce health inequalities. Over £10 million in recurrent funding has supported these teams, including maternity support workers releasing additional midwifery time in the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods.
An independent evaluation found that enhanced model of continuity of carer teams provided greater capacity for midwives to deliver enhanced care to the women that are most likely to experience poor outcomes. An evaluation of longer-term outcomes will be available in 2027.
NHS England has not made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of continuity of care teams in international settings but continues to learn from best practice both in England and internationally. The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce is comprised of experts and key stakeholders from across the maternity and neonatal sector, and wider health sector. This includes families, clinicians, academics, royal colleges and international expertise.
The National Health Service has established Maternal Medicine Networks (MMNs) across England to improve access to specialist medical care for women with chronic and acute medical problems during pregnancy. This approach has been strengthened by the Maternal Care Bundle, which requires all NHS trusts to put pathways in place from all acute settings to the MMNs for acutely unwell pregnant or recently pregnant women. presenting with symptoms or diagnostic uncertainty; and for women with complex epilepsy.
In January 2026, NHS England published the Improving Postnatal Care Toolkit, to support ICBs to improve postnatal care. This highlights the importance of seamless co-ordination between services, with a dedicated professional overseeing and co-ordinating every stage of a woman’s postnatal care and particularly for women and infants with multiple social and medical needs.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 continuity of care for patients receiving eating disorder support.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is supporting continuity of care for people with eating disorders by setting a community‑based, pathway‑led service model that spans primary care, community mental health services, specialist eating disorder teams and, where clinically necessary, inpatient care. The Adult Eating Disorders: Community, Inpatient and Intensive Day Patient Care – Guidance for commissioners and providers (2019) emphasises integrated pathways and continuity as people move between services, rather than stand‑alone episodes of treatment. The guidance is available at the following link:
In January 2026, NHS England published long-awaited updated commissioning guidance for children and young people eating disorder services. The guidance takes a whole-pathway approach, prioritising community-based care, earlier identification and intervention, and better integration with schools, colleges, and primary care. Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing local need and commissioning appropriate community and outpatient provision for their populations.
In addition, the Severe Mental Illness Modern Service Framework aims to set expectations for how local systems organise, prioritise and deliver joined‑up, high-quality care for people with a severe mental illness, including people with eating disorders.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is is taking to help ensure that the Modern Service Framework for Palliative and End of Life Care will be implemented by local integration care boards.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are pleased to have now published an interim update on Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care in England, detailing the progress to date. The interim update was published via a Written Ministerial Statement, alongside an annex containing further information for interested parties, and importantly, the National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England is writing to systems setting out actions that can begin ahead of the full publication of the MSF in Autumn 2026. The Written Ministerial Statement is available at the following link:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88
Whilst the majority of palliative care and end-of-life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life and their loved ones.
The MSF will embed palliative care and end-of-life care within a strategic commissioning model that is centred on clear and transparent contractual arrangements for commissioned palliative care activity across all providers, including hospices, to meet population health needs, with explicit regard to reducing inequalities and improving outcomes for underserved and disadvantaged groups. NHS England is working closely with integrated care boards (ICBs) to support this process and, as detailed in the interim update, we are asking ICBs to move to sustainable contracting of adult, and children and young people’s, hospice services based on their integrated needs assessment. Initially, this will involve a move away from short-term grant funding for adult hospice services from 2027/28.
Whilst no specific assessment of the adequacy of statutory funding for hospices has been made, in February, NHS England wrote to all ICBs requesting an update on the financial stability of hospices in their footprint and the steps being taken to mitigate risks, as a matter of urgency. We are repeating this exercise, by asking ICBs and independent hospices, via Hospice UK, for an up-to-date assessment on their financial situation, risks, and mitigations.
In respect of guaranteeing equitable provision of hospice care, due to the way the hospice movement organically grew, hospice locations were largely not planned with a view to providing even access across the country or to prioritise areas of greatest need based on demographics. Therefore, there are inequalities in access to hospice services, especially for those living in rural or socio-economically deprived areas. However, the Government agrees that palliative care and end-of-life care must be provided equitably, through a range of professionals and providers, both generalist and specialist, across the NHS, social care, and voluntary sector organisations, including hospices.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if providers do not wish to engage with Palantir's FDP, what steps is he taking to ensure that they can procure alternative services.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information across the National Health Service from different systems, into a single secure environment. This integration improves care coordination, expands treatment options, and leads to enhanced clinical outcomes. The capabilities it provides to local organisations will help deliver the National Health Service of the future as part of the Government's 10-Year Health Plan for England.
To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. NHS England publishes quarterly information on the benefits realised from the NHS FDP at the following link:
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than a 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation, nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer, and there has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them.
However, where NHS organisations would like to use alternative solutions, they retain the ability to procure locally, provided solutions meet applicable standards and support the delivery of national priorities. NHS England continues to support providers in ensuring that their digital estate aligns with national standards and delivers value for money for taxpayers.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England about access to identifiable patient data within the National Data Integration Tenant for (a) Palantir staff and (b) other external contractors.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need it most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, and the Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.
Officials have been discussing with NHS England the arrangements in place for access to identifiable patient information for the purposes of responding to parliamentary questions and recent media enquiries.
The National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT) is a secure platform for collecting and managing national health and care data. It replaces multiple legacy systems with one unified, secure process, reducing burden for NHS teams while ensuring the right data is available at the right time to support faster decisions and safer care. Data is pseudonymised using Privacy Enhancing Technologies and then routed to the national NHS FDP where it is used for analysis, insights, and decision-making.
All access is governed by strong safeguards including encryption, role based access controls, and comprehensive audit trails. The suppliers of the NHS FDP and NDIT will only operate under limited project-based access under the instruction of NHS England. Individual access is strictly role based, depending on project, and is time limited. The NDIT and NHS FDP contracts have strict stipulations about confidentiality, and there is governance in place to monitor delivery and usage.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms exist for care home providers to provide feedback on the effectiveness of GP and Care Co-ordination pathways.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care provision, integration and continuity quality statement in the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) current assessment framework looks to assess whether:
people receive care and treatment from services that understand the diverse health and social care needs of their local communities;
there is continuity in people’s care and treatment because services are flexible and joined-up;
people’s care and treatment is delivered in a way that meets their assessed needs from services that are co-ordinated and responsive; and
delivering and co-ordinating services considers the needs and preferences of different people, including those with protected characteristics under the Equality Act and those at most risk of a poorer experience of care.
CQC inspectors may look at how care homes work with others, including general practices (GPs), to deliver joined up care to people using their services.
As part of the Provider Information Return for adult social care residential services, the CQC also asks about partnerships. Here, providers can give feedback on the effectiveness of how they work in partnership with other services.
Ensuring adequate GP provision is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs). GP surgeries, as primary care providers, are regulated by the CQC, and we expect the local ICB as the commissioner to take action if services are not meeting the reasonable needs of their patients.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 88027 on NHS: Databases, what logging systems are used to record and review access to identifiable patient data within the National Data Integration Tenant.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Data Integration Tenant operates within a secure environment with strict controls governing access to data.
All access to data within the system is logged and auditable. Comprehensive audit trails are maintained which record user activity, including access to identifiable patient data, and enable monitoring and review of system use.
The Foundry platform has comprehensive auditing capabilities as detailed at the following link:
https://www.palantir.com/docs/foundry/security/audit-logs-overview
In addition, the audit logs are integrated with the National Cyber Security Centre’s Security Information and Event Management capability.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 60619 on NHS: Databases, how many external contractors have been granted elevated access permissions within the Federated Data Platform, broken down by organisation.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently three contractors with elevated administrative permissions within the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT) Platform and three contractors within the national instance of the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) with elevated administrative permissions. This total has been limited to three or four external contractors historically and all actions are logged and are auditable. The external consultants are provided under the NHS Federated Data Platform and Associated Services Contract (NHS FDP-AS) by Palantir UK and are subject to government security clearance and approval by a member of NHS England staff at director level or above.
Controlled administrative access is provided for defined platform functions, such as system administration, operational support, maintenance, and resilience, including out-of-hours support, acting under the instruction of National Health Service organisations as data controllers.
These administrative roles are designed to support system configuration, maintenance and operation, and do not provide unrestricted or routine access to identifiable patient data. Administrative access is:
strictly role‑based and limited to defined responsibilities;
purpose‑specific and approved in advance;
time‑limited where appropriate; and
fully audited, with all activity logged and subject to monitoring.
All access, including by administrative users, is governed by strong safeguards including encryption, role‑based access controls, and comprehensive audit trails.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 60619, from what date external contractors have been granted elevated or admin-level access to identifiable patient data within the Federated Data Platform, and for how long such permissions have been in operation prior to their public reporting.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Administrative access arrangements for contracted suppliers have been in place as part of the implementation and ongoing operation of the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP), as part of the controlled processes required to configure, operate, and maintain the system safely and effectively.
These access arrangements are not a new development and form part of the platform’s established operational and security model. A very small number of authorised supplier personnel may be granted controlled administrative access where strictly necessary, working under the instruction of NHS England, to deliver defined platform functions, such as system administration, maintenance, and resilience. These administrative roles are designed to support system configuration, maintenance, and operation, and do not provide unrestricted or routine access to identifiable patient data.
Such access has been consistently governed by contractual requirements, information governance controls, and Data Protection Impact Assessments, including those published in relation to the NHS FDP and the National Data Integration Tenant.
There has been no period in which these arrangements have operated outside of the applicable governance, contractual, and legal frameworks. They have been subject to ongoing audit, monitoring, and oversight in line with NHS England’s information governance and security standards.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 60619, what assessment his Department has made of the necessity of granting elevated “admin-level” access to identifiable patient data to external contractors within the National Data Integration Tenant of the Federated Data Platform.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has undertaken a detailed assessment of the access requirements necessary to safely operate and maintain the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP), including within the National Data Integration Tenant, through the procurement process and supporting information governance framework and documentation. This assessment concluded that a limited level of controlled administrative access is necessary to ensure the platform can operate safely, securely, and effectively.
Any elevated system-level access granted to contracted suppliers is limited to what is strictly necessary for defined platform functions, such as system administration, operational support, maintenance, and resilience, including out-of-hours support.
A small number of authorised supplier personnel may be granted controlled administrative access where required to deliver these functions, acting under the instruction of National Health Service organisations as data controllers. This does not provide unrestricted use of identifiable patient data, and suppliers are not permitted to access or use data for their own purposes.
All such access is governed by strict contractual requirements and is supported by technical and organisational controls, including role-based permissions, monitoring, and full audit logging. These arrangements are set out in the NHS FDP contractual terms and supporting Data Protection Impact Assessments.
Data access is further constrained by the NHS FDP’s information governance framework, system design, and contractual controls, under which NHS organisations retain control over the data held within their specific NHS FDP instances and determine how it is used.
All access arrangements are subject to United Kingdom data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, and must comply with NHS England’s information governance and security standards.