Department of Health and Social Care

The National Cancer Plan will redesign cancer services around people’s lives, not just around hospitals, recognising that more people are living for longer with and beyond cancer and need ongoing, coordinated support. To achieve this aim, the plan committed to the development of new standards for both prehabilitation and rehabilitation through cancer manuals by 2028.

Through the National Cancer Plan’s implementation, more cancer care and support will be delivered closer to home, including a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer, expanded supportive oncology, greater use of virtual monitoring, and growing opportunities for treatment and follow-up in community settings where safe and appropriate.

For patients who have more extensive needs and who will require more support to live well, the National Health Service will deliver an enhanced level of care during and after treatment, known as supportive oncology. This will include enhanced rehabilitation, psychological support, and preventative interventions, such as physical activity and smoking cessation. Additionally, it will include acute oncology, support for severe and sometimes sudden symptoms, that means people can get rapid access to the right care in their home or community where appropriate.

The National Cancer Plan will redesign cancer services around people’s lives, not just around hospitals, recognising that more people are living for longer with and beyond cancer and need ongoing, coordinated support. To achieve this aim, the plan committed to the development of new standards for both prehabilitation and rehabilitation through cancer manuals by 2028.

Through the National Cancer Plan’s implementation, more cancer care and support will be delivered closer to home, including a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer, expanded supportive oncology, greater use of virtual monitoring, and growing opportunities for treatment and follow-up in community settings where safe and appropriate.

For patients who have more extensive needs and who will require more support to live well, the National Health Service will deliver an enhanced level of care during and after treatment, known as supportive oncology. This will include enhanced rehabilitation, psychological support, and preventative interventions, such as physical activity and smoking cessation. Additionally, it will include acute oncology, support for severe and sometimes sudden symptoms, that means people can get rapid access to the right care in their home or community where appropriate.

I remain deeply concerned by the state of maternity care we inherited in the NHS.

The Secretary of State announced a rapid, independent investigation in NHS Maternity and Neonatal services to help us understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies and families experience unacceptable care. The investigation, led by Baroness Amos is looking into the maternity and neonatal system nationally and will bring together the findings of past reviews into one clear national set of recommendations, and will publish its final report and recommendations in the Spring 2026.

The government is also setting up a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The Taskforce will address the recommendations of the Investigation by developing a new national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care.

We are not waiting for the investigation to report. We are taking immediate actions to boost accountability and safety as part of the government’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future. This includes a new early warning system to better identify safety concerns, implementing a new programme to reduce brain injuries in childbirth, rolling out a programme to all trusts to tackle discrimination and racism, investing over £149 million into the maternity estate, and new best practice standards in maternal mortality.

As part of NHS England’s assessment process, eligible National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts which apply for the Advanced Foundation Trust Programme will need to demonstrate effective mechanisms to engage meaningfully with patients, staff, and communities, and that involvement influences decisions.

The removal of councils of governors from NHS foundation trusts forms part of the wider aim of the 10-Year Health Plan to ensure that hospitals put patient experiences and outcomes at the heart of their decision-making. While governors have provided helpful advice and oversight for some foundation trusts, we now need to move to a more dynamic model of drawing on patient, staff, and stakeholder insight.

The Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Cancer is a major area of NIHR spending at £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority.

NIHR research infrastructure has national coverage for the whole of England. Our infrastructure schemes aim to build research capacity and capability across all geographies, settings, and disease areas, including understanding disease biology, patient access to novel treatments, and dedicated spaces for medicine studies.

In addition, through the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN), the NIHR supports 100% of National Health Service trusts in England to deliver research, operating across 12 regions throughout the country. The RDN also provides health research delivery investment that better enables trial access across wider care settings, including primary care, community-based, and residential research delivery organisations. In 2024/25 the RDN supported over 1,200 cancer studies, including the recruitment of almost 100,000 patients to cancer studies.

The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all cancer types.

NHS Resolution will not hold records of complaints as they will be managed locally by the service provider.

Where an individual National Health Service trust is a member or beneficiary of NHS Resolution’s indemnity schemes, NHS Resolution will keep records of claims or cases resolved through mediation or settlement.

As such, whether NHS Resolution holds relevant records will first be dependent on the individual trusts that host specialist gender services participating in these schemes.

The Trust’s evaluation found that revised opening hours at Crawley Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre reduced the average time patients spend in the UTC by 17 minutes, with no significant impact on nearby emergency departments. Decisions on local service configuration are the responsibility of NHS commissioners. The Government has committed £250 million in the UEC Plan 25/26 to expand co-located urgent treatment centres alongside same day emergency care.

Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.

Care providers are also required to ensure staff receive the support, training, professional development, supervision, and appraisal necessary to carry out their duties safely and competently.

To support providers to do so, the Department provides reimbursement towards the cost of training and qualifications through the Adult Social Care Learning and Support Scheme, backed by up to £12 million in funding this financial year.

NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) meets monthly to consider policy and service specifications that are categorised as cost saving or cost neutral.

CPAG prioritisation meetings are held annually. The next prioritisation meeting is planned for spring 2026.

Reducing waiting lists, including for endometriosis and other gynaecological conditions, is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission. We are committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. As of the end of December 2025, the gynaecology waiting list stands at 577,232, with 57.3% of patient pathways waiting less than 18 weeks, an improvement of 1.9% since December 2024.

We know there is more to do to improve access to endometriosis care and waiting times against the 18-week standard. We are expanding the number of dedicated and protected surgical hubs, of which gynaecology procedures are a key offering, and commissioning research focussed on endometriosis diagnosis, treatment, and pain. We are also introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which from 2027 will provide additional appointments to cut waiting times for certain pathways. This includes people who are experiencing menstrual problems, a potential sign of endometriosis, who will be given the choice of receiving at least some of their specialist care from the convenience of their own home. Across all specialities, NHS Online will deliver the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years, four times more than an average trust.

We are improving the standards of care for women with severe endometriosis by ensuring specialist endometriosis services have access to the most up-to-date evidence and advice on diagnosis and treatment. In 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved two new pills to treat endometriosis, Relugolix and Linzagolix. Both are estimated to help approximately 1,000 women with severe endometriosis.

The next Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) prioritisation meeting is planned for spring 2026, where policies that are ready and require investment decisions to be taken will be considered. It is expected up to 20 such policies will be considered at the next meeting.

CPAG also continues to meet monthly to consider policy and service specifications that are categorised as cost saving or cost neutral.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of elective care services, based on the needs of their population.

The NHS Payment Scheme is the set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide. It is designed to ensure that funding flows fairly and efficiently across the healthcare system. Under the NHS Payment Scheme 2025/26, NHS trusts should not be paid under a block contract basis for elective care. NHS trusts should be paid on the basis of the elective care they deliver.

The only exception is where the value of patient activity between a commissioner and an NHS trust is less than £1.5 million, and in these circumstances the trust is paid a fixed amount for all the activity that they deliver for that commissioner, including both elective and non-elective, to minimise the number of low value transactions between NHS organisations.

NHS England expects each ICB and provider to meet the requirements of the 2025/26 Planning Guidance, including delivering the necessary elective recovery targets. Where systems and providers are failing to meet their plans, NHS England will work with them to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place. This can include escalation into the national tiering programme, and the provision of improvement support. The National Oversight Framework describes how NHS England assesses ICBs and NHS providers, ensuring public accountability for performance. These processes are the same for all providers and systems, regardless of the commissioning arrangements in place.

Details of the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme are published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of elective care services, based on the needs of their population.

The NHS Payment Scheme is the set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide. It is designed to ensure that funding flows fairly and efficiently across the healthcare system. Under the NHS Payment Scheme 2025/26, NHS trusts should not be paid under a block contract basis for elective care. NHS trusts should be paid on the basis of the elective care they deliver.

The only exception is where the value of patient activity between a commissioner and an NHS trust is less than £1.5 million, and in these circumstances the trust is paid a fixed amount for all the activity that they deliver for that commissioner, including both elective and non-elective, to minimise the number of low value transactions between NHS organisations.

NHS England expects each ICB and provider to meet the requirements of the 2025/26 Planning Guidance, including delivering the necessary elective recovery targets. Where systems and providers are failing to meet their plans, NHS England will work with them to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place. This can include escalation into the national tiering programme, and the provision of improvement support. The National Oversight Framework describes how NHS England assesses ICBs and NHS providers, ensuring public accountability for performance. These processes are the same for all providers and systems, regardless of the commissioning arrangements in place.

Details of the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme are published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of elective care services, based on the needs of their population.

The NHS Payment Scheme is the set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide. It is designed to ensure that funding flows fairly and efficiently across the healthcare system. Under the NHS Payment Scheme 2025/26, NHS trusts should not be paid under a block contract basis for elective care. NHS trusts should be paid on the basis of the elective care they deliver.

The only exception is where the value of patient activity between a commissioner and an NHS trust is less than £1.5 million, and in these circumstances the trust is paid a fixed amount for all the activity that they deliver for that commissioner, including both elective and non-elective, to minimise the number of low value transactions between NHS organisations.

NHS England expects each ICB and provider to meet the requirements of the 2025/26 Planning Guidance, including delivering the necessary elective recovery targets. Where systems and providers are failing to meet their plans, NHS England will work with them to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place. This can include escalation into the national tiering programme, and the provision of improvement support. The National Oversight Framework describes how NHS England assesses ICBs and NHS providers, ensuring public accountability for performance. These processes are the same for all providers and systems, regardless of the commissioning arrangements in place.

Details of the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme are published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of elective care services, based on the needs of their population.

The NHS Payment Scheme is the set of rules, prices, and guidance that determine how providers of National Health Service-funded healthcare are paid for the services they provide. It is designed to ensure that funding flows fairly and efficiently across the healthcare system. Under the NHS Payment Scheme 2025/26, NHS trusts should not be paid under a block contract basis for elective care. NHS trusts should be paid on the basis of the elective care they deliver.

The only exception is where the value of patient activity between a commissioner and an NHS trust is less than £1.5 million, and in these circumstances the trust is paid a fixed amount for all the activity that they deliver for that commissioner, including both elective and non-elective, to minimise the number of low value transactions between NHS organisations.

NHS England expects each ICB and provider to meet the requirements of the 2025/26 Planning Guidance, including delivering the necessary elective recovery targets. Where systems and providers are failing to meet their plans, NHS England will work with them to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place. This can include escalation into the national tiering programme, and the provision of improvement support. The National Oversight Framework describes how NHS England assesses ICBs and NHS providers, ensuring public accountability for performance. These processes are the same for all providers and systems, regardless of the commissioning arrangements in place.

Details of the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme are published at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/25-26-nhs-payment-scheme/

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for Bexhill and Battle and for England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally 2025/26:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for East Sussex can be found at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/ati/502/are/E10000011/iid/40701/age/163/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our NHS needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.

Through our community diagnostic centres we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives. This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions.

No formal assessment of the impact of block contract arrangements on National Health Service productivity has been made. However, the 10‑Year Health Plan sets out the Government’s intention to move away from block contracts, paid irrespective of how many patients are seen or the quality of care, and to realign funding with activity and performance.

Under these reforms, payment for poor‑quality care will be withheld, high‑quality care will attract additional reward, and new incentives will be introduced for the most effective NHS leaders, clinicians, and teams. These changes are designed to support clearer accountability, improve productivity over time, and ensure that NHS resources are targeted where they deliver the greatest value for patients.

No such assessment has been made. The Department for Education provides the primary student support package for domestic dental students in higher education through Student Finance England (SFE).

From year five of an undergraduate and year two of a graduate-entry course, these students can access the NHS Bursary. For this academic year the Government increased the NHS Bursary tuition fee contributions, maintenance grants, and all allowances by 3.1%, in line with increases to SFE support.

This is the second academic year the Government has increased support for medical and dental students through the NHS Bursary. Prior to this the maintenance grants had not been uplifted since 2015. We understand that these uplifts do not go far enough to make up for the historical lack of uplift. However, this is a step in the right direction, and we continue to keep funding for dental students under review.

To improve referral rates for pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), NHS England has issued detailed guidance to integrated care boards on strengthening PR workforce capacity, ensuring safe staffing levels, and developing accessible service models to reduce health inequalities. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/pulmonary-rehabilitation-workforce/

NHS England has additionally recently published guidance on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biologics that reiterates the need for PR to be taken into account when planning care for people with COPD. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/business-case-guidance-copd-biologics/

The 10-Year Health Plan committed to the roll out of Staff Treatment Hubs, to provide a high-quality wellbeing and occupational health service for all National Health Service staff. Work is underway to develop implementation and operational plans for the Staff Treatments Hubs. This will determine factors such as location, budgets, timeframes, capacity, and processes for monitoring progress and performance.

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. Violence rates in mental health settings are lower than the national average. Individual employers put in place a robust range of measures, including, security, training, and emotional support for staff that are affected by violence.

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. There is a zero-tolerance approach to violence in the workplace.

Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff, and they put in place measures, including, security, training, and emotional support for staff affected by violence.

Existing measures will be strengthened by the introduction of a new set of staff standards, as detailed in the 10-Year Health Plan.

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a clinically proven intervention that improves outcomes and reduces hospital admissions for people with chronic respiratory conditions. Health Education England reported in 2022 that increasing access to PR for people with lung conditions could save NHS England £69 million every year and see a reduction of 150,924 general practice appointments, and 26,633 fewer hospital admissions per year. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Respiratory%20Disease%20Report.pdf

NHS England has additionally recently published guidance on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biologics that reiterates the need for PR to be taken into account when planning care for people with COPD. This provides cost and health benefit information for integrated care boards to help create business cases for setting up COPD services. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/business-case-guidance-copd-biologics/

NHS England holds a quarterly PR steering group that provides direction, challenge and support for decision-making, and monitors progress against set metrics as reported through the national respiratory audit programme. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nrap.org.uk/NRAP/welcome.nsf/0/B2AB84D12BC2C43280258CF20030EC2C/$file/NRAP_State_of_the_Nation_Catching_our_breath_2025.pdf

The Government has instructed the National Health Service to improve maternity services, as part of a drive to improve quality, as a priority in the Medium‑Term Planning Framework.

While the ring-fenced funding for maternity services has been removed, the same level of funding is being delivered. This is to allow local healthcare system leaders more autonomy to meet the needs of their local population. The Government will continue to monitor integrated care board investment in maternity services.

We are committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients are treated within 18 weeks of referral to consultant-led care, including gynaecology, by March 2029. As of the end of December 2025, the waiting list for gynaecology services stood at 577,232. Of these patient pathways, 57.3% were waiting within 18 weeks. This an improvement from December 2024 where the waiting list for gynaecology services was 586,202, 55.4% of which were within 18 weeks.

There is clearly more progress to be made. The Government will continue to develop innovative models of care in the community, including piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding, and increasing the relative funding available to incentivise providers to take on more gynaecology procedures.

We are committed to expanding the number of surgical hubs, which provide valuable and protected capacity across elective specialities, including gynaecology. Currently, over half of the 125 operational elective surgical hubs in England provide gynaecology services.

We are also introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which aims to provide additional appointments to cut waiting times. From 2027, people on certain pathways, including severe menopause symptoms and menstrual problems that may be a sign of endometriosis or fibroids, will have the choice of being referred to NHS Online to receive at least some of the specialist care they need from the convenience of their home.

Healthwatch has played an important role in supporting patient involvement in the National Health Service, and in our 10-Year Health Plan we recognise the valuable work they have done to gather patient feedback and influence the debate around local service delivery.

Healthwatch was one of six organisations covered by Dr Penny Dash’s review of patient safety across the health and care landscape. The review found that there are too many organisations doing this type of work, which can create confusion for patients and risks limiting impact given their distance from service providers and commissioners.

In response, we have committed in our 10-Year Health Plan to bring Healthwatch England’s strategic functions ‘in house’ within a reformed Department, giving patients a stronger national voice through the creation of a new National Director of Patient Experience. At the same time, the statutory functions of Local Healthwatch will be brought together with the involvement and engagement responsibilities of integrated care boards, ensuring that patient insight is more directly connected to local decision-making and service improvement.

Across the Department and NHS England, £1,067,157.34 has been spent directly on Part IX of the Drug Tariff, including VAT where applicable. This does not include Department and NHS England staff time. This covers the period 2024/25, and 2025/26. This includes planned spend up until the end of the 2025/2026 financial year.

For the MedTech Commercial Strategy, across the Department and NHS England, planned direct spend up until the end of the 2025/26 financial year is £120,000. This does not include Department and NHS England staff time and includes VAT.

It was not expected that all trusts would adopt the platform by April 2026, and the NHS Federated Data (NHS FDP) programme is on track to support adoption of the NHS FDP to 85% of all National Health Service trusts by March 2026.

NHS England published its regular benefits and uptake data on 12 February 2026, which shows that at the end of January 2026 there were 110 NHS trusts live or in delivery of the Federated Data Platform. 167 trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, or 81% of the 205 providers of secondary and tertiary care in the NHS.

It was not expected that all trusts would adopt the platform by April 2026, and the NHS Federated Data (NHS FDP) programme is on track to support adoption of the NHS FDP to 85% of all National Health Service trusts by March 2026.

NHS England published its regular benefits and uptake data on 12 February 2026, which shows that at the end of January 2026 there were 110 NHS trusts live or in delivery of the Federated Data Platform. 167 trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, or 81% of the 205 providers of secondary and tertiary care in the NHS.

The Department funds health and care research via its research operational arm the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) across England. The Department is committed to ensuring that research is inclusive and representative of the population geographically and demographically.  To support this, in November 2024 the Department made equity, diversity, and inclusion a condition of NIHR funding for all domestic research awards.

The NIHR is taking a number of steps to secure equitable allocation of health research funding including targeted programme design, long‑term capacity building in under‑served regions, such as new regional Commercial Research Delivery Centres, and place‑based research partnerships. In addition, from this April the NIHR’s Research Delivery Network, which supports all National Health Service trusts in England to deliver research, is implementing a new national funding allocation model for NHS support costs and research delivery which will reduce regional variations in health research delivery investment.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has not instructed or advised Healthwatch England to refrain from public comment about its abolition or the transfer of its functions.

The CQC is operationally independent and continues to work with Healthwatch England in line with its statutory duties.

The Department continues to engage with both the CQC and Healthwatch England, as its strategic functions move to a new patient experience directorate within the Department following Dr Penny Dash’s Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has published an accepted list of countries where English is a majority spoken language on its website. This is available at the following link:

https://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/joining-the-register/english-language-requirements/recent-practice-in-english/

This list is primarily based on the UK Visas and Immigration skilled worker visa list, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/knowledge-of-english

Any variation from this list is based on independent evidence as to whether a country is majority English-speaking.

No assessment has been made by the Department of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in National Health Service settings.

As the independent regulator of registered nurses, the NMC is responsible for establishing the requirements that applicants must meet to demonstrate English language proficiency for registration.

It is the responsibility of NHS employers to assess the English language proficiency of nurses and the care staff they employ as part of their recruitment process to ensure workers have a sufficient level of English to carry out their role safely.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has published an accepted list of countries where English is a majority spoken language on its website. This is available at the following link:

https://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/joining-the-register/english-language-requirements/recent-practice-in-english/

This list is primarily based on the UK Visas and Immigration skilled worker visa list, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/knowledge-of-english

Any variation from this list is based on independent evidence as to whether a country is majority English-speaking.

No assessment has been made by the Department of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in National Health Service settings.

As the independent regulator of registered nurses, the NMC is responsible for establishing the requirements that applicants must meet to demonstrate English language proficiency for registration.

It is the responsibility of NHS employers to assess the English language proficiency of nurses and the care staff they employ as part of their recruitment process to ensure workers have a sufficient level of English to carry out their role safely.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

No such assessment has been made. Ambulance handover and response times for ambulance trusts, including for the West Midlands Ambulance Service, are published monthly by NHS England. This information can be accessed via the Ambulance Quality Indications dataset at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ambulance-quality-indicators-data-2025-26/

Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements this winter and make services better every day, including reducing ambulance handovers to a maximum of 45 minutes, helping get more ambulances back on the road for patients, and reducing Category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes on average. NHS England continues to monitor average hospital handover times, sharing data with regions to support focussed discussions and identify improvement actions with those trusts not achieving handovers in 45 minutes.

The 2025 Medium‑Term Planning Framework commits to faster ambulance responses, aiming for 20‑minute Category 2 times by 2026/27 and 18 minutes by 2028/29.

The Department of Health and Social Care does not hold information on the nationality of United Kingdom primary medical degree student graduates. The Office for Students publishes statistics on the fee statuses of annual intakes to medical courses across the UK, but not of those graduating. The fee statuses can act as a guide for UK versus non-UK nationality. The following table shows the fee statuses for intakes to UK medical schools during the academic years 2021/22 to 2025/26:

Source: Medical and Dental Intakes, Office for Students, available at the following link:
https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/finance-and-funding/medicine-and-dentistry-funding/data-on-medical-and-dental-intakes/
Note: data for 2025/26 is the initial intake data, hence there is no data on withdrawals during the year, as with prior data.

Rules on the eligibility for home fees status are complex, but generally individuals must be resident and ‘settled’ in the UK on ‘the first day of the academic year’ for which they are paying fees to be eligible for home student status. With some exceptions, students must also have been ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of their course and for the three years before that date.

Whilst there is an increasing move towards digital National Health Service communications via the NHS App, texts, digital telephony, and emails, NHS letters remain crucial for many patients, particularly those who may be digitally excluded.

All NHS organisations are now required to use NHS Notify to send out patient communications. This service makes sure that patients get messages from NHS organisations in the best channel for their needs and ensures the NHS effectively delivers its services. This is done by routing messages to the secure NHS App, falling back to SMS, email, and letters if they do not, based on a central source of contact details, additional needs, and NHS numbers. By doing this once from a single service, the NHS can make sure the most secure, rapid, reliable, accessible, and cost effective channel of communication is used.

NHS England and Royal Mail have been working together to ensure NHS providers continue to have a choice of both price and speed when sending letters, and to improve how NHS letters are sent to patients across the United Kingdom. There is now a Royal Mail NHS barcode, which was announced in April 2025. The barcode is designed to mitigate the impact on NHS letters by helping to optimise their delivery at times of local and national disruption. Further information may be found on the Royal Mail website, at the following link:

https://www.royalmailwholesale.com/news/nhs-mail-new-barcode-solution

This describes the process by which the prioritisation of NHS communication happens.