Department of Health and Social Care

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to making the National Health Service the best place to work, by supporting and retaining our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals.

To support this ambition, the Government plans to introduce a new set of standards for modern employment in April 2026. The new standards will reaffirm our commitment to improving retention by tackling the issues that matter to staff, including promoting flexible working, improving staff health and wellbeing, and dealing with violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the NHS workplace. They will provide a framework for leaders across the NHS to build a supportive culture that embeds retention.

NHS England is already leading work nationally through its retention programme to drive a consistent, system-wide approach to staff retention across NHS trusts. This ensures trusts have access to proven retention strategies, data-driven monitoring, and can foster a more stable, engaged, productive, and supported workforce.

In August, NHS England published the 10-point plan for improving resident doctors working lives which addresses issues such as annual leave and payroll errors. The Department continues to work to improve working conditions for all resident, specialty, associate specialists and specialist (SAS) doctors and consultant doctors.

This year, we accepted the Pay Review Body recommendations for headline pay for 2025/26 such that consultant and SAS doctors received an above inflation pay uplift of 4% and resident doctors received 4% + £750.

No assessment has been made.

We work closely with the Department for Education on a wide range of matters, including healthcare education and training funding. Matters relating to the income of universities are the responsibility of the Department for Education.

Latest figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) for 2025 show that acceptances to undergraduate nursing and midwifery courses at English providers have increased by 1% when compared to the same point last year, and by 5% compared to pre-pandemic numbers (2019). These are not final numbers. We are awaiting end of cycle data to be published by UCAS later this year to confirm final numbers.

The total number of publicly funded students that can start medical courses each year is limited and is set by the Government. Each medical school is issued with an expected maximum intake for the year. The Office for Students runs an annual data survey that monitors provider recruitment against these targets. In the five most recent years for which final data is available, universities have met this limit, with medicine remaining a competitive course.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

No assessment has been made of the level of incidence of hospital acquired deconditioning among elderly patients in acute hospitals or community hospitals, as the National Health Service does not routinely measure this.

However, we remain committed to reducing deconditioning in in-patient settings through a strong focus on supporting health and care needs in the community wherever possible, reducing delays to discharge, and strengthening rehabilitation and reablement services.

There have been no discussions on minimum waiting times between my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the integrated care boards (ICBs).

ICBs plan activity to meet targets set in the planning guidance. This is an important step toward 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. Planning guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.

NHS England has established processes and practices which will enable it to assess the impact of the proposed changes on disabled, neurodiverse, female, and non-British staff at a detailed level, at the appropriate stage of the transformation programme.

The Government has not made an assessment on the connection between the number of prosecutions for unlawful abortions and the availability of telemedicine for early medical abortion. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance. Parliament decides the circumstances under which abortion can legally be undertaken.

In 2022, Parliament voted to amend the Abortion Act 1967 to allow eligible women in England and Wales to take one or both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks at home, following a consultation with a clinician either in person, by telephone or by electronic means. The Department works closely with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, and abortion providers to ensure that abortions are provided safely, in accordance with the legal framework set by the Abortion Act 1967.

Abortion continues to be a very safe procedure for which major complications are rare at all gestations. The evidence-base for home use of early medical abortion pills has been assessed by leading statutory and professional organisations and it is recognised to be a safe procedure in evidence-based guidance, including the World Health Organisation’s abortion care guideline, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2022 report on best practice in abortion care and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guidelines on abortion care.

Providers of National Health Services are responsible for collating organisational safeguarding data. Local authorities will hold data on referrals made on adult safeguarding to them by NHS or independent health services.

At a national level, annual data on safeguarding adult referrals, including data on neglect and the location of risk, based on local authority area is published and available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/safeguarding-adults

Providers of National Health Services are responsible for collating organisational safeguarding data. Local authorities will hold data on referrals made on adult safeguarding to them by NHS or independent health services.

At a national level, annual data on safeguarding adult referrals, including data on neglect and the location of risk, based on local authority area is published and available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/safeguarding-adults

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department and regulates medicine, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom, with responsibility for ensuring medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy.

MHRA has not evaluated this report, as period products are not regulated as medical devices and consequently fall outside of MHRA’s remit. Rather, they would fall under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, which are within the remit of the Office for Product Safety and Standards. Information on how these are regulated is available at the following link:

https://www.ahpma.co.uk/tampon_code_of_practice/

The early support hubs were originally funded by the Shared Outcomes Fund, which provided £8 million of top-up funding to expand open-access, community services and to build the evidence base for early intervention services for children and young people's mental health. The project was initially funded in 2024/25 for one year and we were able to extend the programme for an additional year to 2025/26.

In addition to expanding access to support, early support hubs have played a key role building an evidence base to support the introduction of young futures hubs next year. The evaluation findings are directly informing our young futures hubs programme. Young futures hubs will bring services together to support young people with emerging needs, including early mental health advice and wellbeing interventions. As we launch the first 50 young futures hubs, we will work with local areas and partners to build on learning from the early support hubs pilot.

Our aim is to set up 50 hubs where they will have the most impact over the next four years. The design and implementation of the programme in future years will be informed by our work with early adopters. We will set out more details in due course.

The Government has set out a commitment to make the NHS App British Sign Language (BSL) accessible in the 10-Year Health Plan, which covers the period to 2035.

Currently, there is no timeline for when the NHS App will be made BSL accessible. The NHS App roadmap is published and regularly updated, and is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/roadmap

Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government. We have exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having delivered 5.2 million more appointments across elective care services. This marks a vital first step to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the National Health Service constitutional standard, by March 2029.

Between September 2024 and 2025, we reduced the number of incomplete neurology pathways by over 15,000, from 234,720 to 219,221, and reduced the average waiting time for neurology services from 16.2 to 15.2 weeks. 57.2% of patients referred were waiting within 18 weeks, up from 54% at the same point last year. This is still lower than the national average and we are continuing efforts to improve this, recognising that this is a challenged specialty.

The January 2025 Elective Reform Plan commits to reforming outpatient services, including by supporting general practitioners and hospital doctors to work better together to ensure referrals are used only when a patient really needs hospital care, through increased uptake of Advice and Guidance. There are a number of initiatives at the national level supporting service improvement and better care for patients with neurological conditions, including the United Kingdom-wide Neuro Forum, RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology.

Senior civil servants (SCS) and delegated grades, non-SCS staff, follow different performance management frameworks. SCS staff operate within the framework for SCS performance management prescribed by the Cabinet Office. For delegated performance there is a flexible framework that requires departments to reflect a number of core elements in their approach, including differentiating performance, addressing under and poor performance, and addressing diversity and inclusion.

In the Department of Health and Social Care, the policy is that all individuals should have monthly reviews and performance ratings that are collated and returned to human resources mid-year, in October, and at the end of the year, in April. Whilst the Department of Health and Social Care only collected data for delegated grades for the 2024/25 performance year, it has complete data for SCS staff for the last five years. The following table shows the number of end of year performance ratings returned from 2020/21 to 2024/25:

Furthermore, the following table shows how many were rated as unsatisfactory or below, or the equivalent ratings used by the relevant organisations, on each occasion, from 2020/21 to 2024/25:

Note: *[c] means confidential and suppressed due to small numbers of less than five.

The Department of Health and Social Care does not hold data on how many staff left as a result of an unsatisfactory performance rating.

In the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the policy is that all individuals should have monthly performance conversations, and performance ratings are collated and returned to human resources at end of year in April. The UKHSA only collected data for delegated grades for the 2024/25 performance year but has complete data for SCS staff for the last five years. The MHRA did not collect data for delegated grades or SCS staff for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 performance years. The following table shows the number of performance reviews undertaken by the UKHSA and the MHRA in the last five years:

In addition, the following table shows how many were rated as unsatisfactory or below, or the equivalent ratings used by the relevant organisations, on each occasion, for each of the last five years:

Note: *[c] means confidential and suppressed due to small numbers of less than five.

The UKHSA does not hold data on how many staff left as a result of an unsatisfactory performance rating. The following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff at the MHRA and the percentage of the staff who left due to unsatisfactory ratings, for each of the last five years:

The Department’s probation policy and guidance advises managers on the steps to take to assess a new employee’s suitability for the post and to provide support to enable them to succeed. It also advises on the steps to take where performance, attendance, or conduct are not satisfactory. This can include exiting the employee or extending their probation to provide further evidence for a final decision on their suitability.

The number of staff in the Department who did not retain employment following the completion of their probationary period, and those whose probationary period was extended, in each of the last five years is set out below:

- in 2025, four staff did not retain employment and four had their probationary period extended;

- in 2024, two staff did not retain employment and two had their probationary period extended;

- in 2023, there were no staff who did not retain employment and no staff had their probationary period extended;

- in 2022, four staff did not retain employment and three had their probationary period extended;

- in 2021, one staff member did not retain employment and one had their probationary period extended.

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:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng201/chapter/recommendations#:~:text=Antenatal%20classes-,1.3.,NICE%20guideline%20on%20postnatal%20care

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.

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:

• the Care Leavers Internship Programme, ran by the Department for Education, which offers cave-experienced people between the ages of 18 and 30 years old a placement in Government departments, supporting the Government’s commitment to social mobility;
• the Summer Internship Programme, ran by the Cabinet Office, which offers candidates from lower socio-economic backgrounds a temporary placement in Government departments to provide an opportunity to experience what it feels like to work in the Civil Service; and
• the Autism Exchange Internship Programme, ran by the Cabinet Office, which offers summer internships to autistic young people and aims to provide valuable work experience and skills to participants, while also helping Government departments better understand and support autistic employees.

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.

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.

Safeguarding the mental health and wellbeing of colleagues while delivering the changes needed for the future of NHS England is a key priority for NHS England. NHS England has designed and implemented an equity-focused support package which has been shaped and informed jointly with staff networks, representative of the diversity of the organisation, trade unions, and health and safety representatives to meet the diverse needs of colleagues in the organisation. The support includes:

- dedicated mental health resources through the Employee Assistance Programme, with confidential counselling, and occupational health and wellbeing services available to all staff;

- inclusive guidance for line managers to help them identify and respond to wellbeing concerns in a way that is sensitive to individual circumstances, including those related to protected characteristics and personal responsibilities; and

- targeted support for staff networks and underrepresented groups, ensuring that voices from across NHS England’s organisation are heard and supported during this transition.

NHS England is actively monitoring the impact of change through multiple feedback channels, including the annual staff survey, engagement forums, Health and Safety Committee staff network, and recognised trade union forums, as well as through sickness absence, and direct feedback mechanisms.

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.

The former site of Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People in Leatherhead is not owned by a National Health Service trust, and therefore any maintenance costs will not be met by NHS maintenance budgets.

We recognise the importance of providing funding for adult social care. The Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding to be made available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26, to support the sector in making improvements.

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

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/

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.

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.

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.

As set out in the Elective Reform Plan and the 10-Year Health Plan, community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are key to delivering on the Government’s ambition to move more planned care from hospitals to the community, reducing pressure on hospitals and delivering more convenient care close to home.

CDCs deliver additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity, providing patients with a co-ordinated set of diagnostic checks in the community in as few visits as possible, enabling an accurate and fast diagnosis on a range of clinical pathways.

Under the Government, CDCs have delivered over 9.4 million tests and scans since July 2024, supporting patients to access vital tests, scans, and checks around their busy working lives.

In August 2025, the Government confirmed that 100 CDCs across the country are now offering out of hours services by opening for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital tests, scans, and checks around their busy working lives. We are committed to increasing this number further.

Both Dorset County Hospital and Dorset Healthcare, as the primary providers of community services in Dorset, have assessed their resource and capacity requirements for the winter period as part of the annual planning process. These take account of the expected impact of surges in seasonally affected conditions and the associated infection prevention and control challenges this presents.

The winter plans are underpinned by robust organisational business continuity plans to maintain services in the event of loss of workforce or service capacity and are aligned to wider system resilience planning across health and social care partners to help manage and mitigate the risks of anticipated increases in demand and acuity expected over this period. System-level plans include provision for surge and escalation responses at times of peak operational pressure.

The Dorset County Hospital has a comprehensive Operational Resilience and Capacity Plan for winter 2025/26, which aligns to NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care priorities and forms part of Dorset’s overall system plan.

The Government continues to strengthen the resilience of elective care, including through expanding valuable protected elective capacity, including in surgical hubs and community diagnostic centres.

Nationally we have invested nearly £26 billion in additional funding for supporting both immediate winter capacity and the infrastructure transformation, new surgical hubs, diagnostic scanners, and enhanced digital systems, that will establish the Neighbourhood Health Service and make future winters fundamentally different, building towards our milestone of 92% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment.

NHS Supply Chain manages a framework agreement for the provision of external breast prosthesis and chest support garments, only which was renewed in November 2024. The framework provides the breadth of products available to meet National Health Service trusts and/or foundation trusts assessment and patient choice requirements.

The product ranges on the framework include a variety of materials, types, shapes, sizes, and colours to meet diverse needs, and all suppliers have some product ranges available in more than one colour. Some products are better suited to exercise and swimming, but the provision of a prosthesis is limited to a softie, which is textile based, immediately after surgery and a silicone based prosthesis once wounds have healed.

NHS trusts and foundation trusts are responsible for their own procurement activity to meet the requirements of their patients and clinicians. NHS England has a list of approved regional and national frameworks that NHS provider organisations can use, and they are encouraged to buy from a framework if it catalogues the particular product or service.

The accreditation standards required to be on the list cover a range of areas, from minimum contractual terms and conditions, robust supplier appointment and value for money assessment processes, through to the sharing of commercial and commission data with NHS England.  Details and the list of accredited host organisations can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/system-guidance-for-the-implementation-of-framework-host-management/

NHS Supply Chain is on this list and is the main supplier of goods and services into the NHS.

NHS Supply Chain manages a framework agreement for the provision of external breast prosthesis and chest support garments, only which was renewed in November 2024. The framework provides the breadth of products available to meet National Health Service trusts and/or foundation trusts assessment and patient choice requirements.

The product ranges on the framework include a variety of materials, types, shapes, sizes, and colours to meet diverse needs, and all suppliers have some product ranges available in more than one colour. Some products are better suited to exercise and swimming, but the provision of a prosthesis is limited to a softie, which is textile based, immediately after surgery and a silicone based prosthesis once wounds have healed.

NHS trusts and foundation trusts are responsible for their own procurement activity to meet the requirements of their patients and clinicians. NHS England has a list of approved regional and national frameworks that NHS provider organisations can use, and they are encouraged to buy from a framework if it catalogues the particular product or service.

The accreditation standards required to be on the list cover a range of areas, from minimum contractual terms and conditions, robust supplier appointment and value for money assessment processes, through to the sharing of commercial and commission data with NHS England.  Details and the list of accredited host organisations can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/system-guidance-for-the-implementation-of-framework-host-management/

NHS Supply Chain is on this list and is the main supplier of goods and services into the NHS.

The reintegration of NHS England and the restructuring of integrated care boards will deliver efficiencies that are expected to save £1 billion a year by the end of this Parliament. These savings will be achieved through streamlining functions, reducing duplication, and redirecting resources towards frontline patient care.

The Government is committed to transparency in how these figures are calculated. The methodology underpinning the £1 billion saving estimate will be set out through established mechanisms, including publication of supporting documentation where appropriate. This will ensure that both Parliament and the public are able to scrutinise the basis of the savings. Further detail will be brought forward in due course, in line with our commitment to provide clear and timely information.

The reforms announced on 11 November will involve some upfront costs associated with organisational change, including the reintegration of NHS England and the restructuring of integrated care boards.

The Government is committed to ensuring that Parliament and the public are appropriately informed of these costs. Information will be published at the appropriate time, in line with established reporting mechanisms, to ensure transparency and accountability. The Department will continue to provide updates as the reforms progress.

The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will be chaired by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and will take forward the recommendations of the independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, forming them into a new national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care. Consultation on the terms of reference and shape of the taskforce with families has begun, and the first meeting of the taskforce will take place in the new year, with initial feedback from the independent investigation to be considered as part of it.

The investigation will report to the Secretary of State before the end of the year and publish its final report and recommendations in the Spring 2026. These recommendations will supersede the multiple existing actions and recommendations already in place. As confirmed in the Secretary of State’s June 2025 announcement, the findings of the investigation will feed into the taskforce and provide invaluable insight and recommendations into the key areas that require change.

The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will be made of up a breadth of independent clinical and international expertise including those who can speak to the inequalities within maternal health, as well as family and staff representatives, charities and campaigners. The taskforce will work closely with families in developing the action plan, ensuring their voices are central to this work.

The members of the taskforce will be announced in due course. Families have been engaged on the membership and the terms of reference for the taskforce ahead of its announcement in the new year.

The Department does not hold data on medical appointments missed in the format requested. Our Elective Reform Plan sets out the focussed action we are taking to reduce missed appointments, as part of delivering the Government’s commitment to return to the constitutional standard of 92% of patients having their first treatment within 18-weeks of referral. This includes enhancing communication between hospitals and patients, using the results of artificial intelligence to predict missed appointments, and targeting support to vulnerable patient groups, saving up to one million missed appointments.

The Elective Reform Plan and the 10-Year Health Plan commit to modernising care equitably and inclusively, including ensuring consistency in the availability of information, so that patients, including those that are deaf or have hearing impairments, are supported to attend appointments and have the best possible experience of care.

As part of this, NHS England published a refreshed Accessible Information Standard (AIS) in July 2025. This sets out a specific, consistent approach to meeting the information and communication support needs of service users with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, and requires that relevant staff are adequately trained. NHS England is supporting implementation of AIS, so that staff and organisations are aware of the importance of meeting the needs of disabled people using services.

In England, the Office for Students (OfS) sets the maximum fundable limit for medical school places on an annual basis. OfS will publish its intake target for the 2026/27 academic year in due course. For the 2025/26 academic year, information is available at the following link:

https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/finance-and-funding/medicine-and-dentistry-funding/medical-and-dental-maximum-fundable-limits/

The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance performance has not met the high standards patients should expect.

In October, NHS England published the Medium Term Planning Framework which sets out ambitious targets to improve core urgent and emergency care performance to constitutional standards, including by shortening average Category 2 response times to 18 minutes. This is being supported by practical actions, including reducing avoidable ambulance dispatches and conveyances and ambulance handover delays.

The measures being taken are already improving ambulance response times, including in North East Hampshire. The latest National Health Service performance figures for the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, which serves North East Hampshire, show that in October, Category 2 incidents were responded to in 31 minutes 54 seconds on average, over six minutes faster than the same period last year.

The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance performance has not met the high standards patients should expect.

In October, NHS England published the Medium Term Planning Framework which sets out ambitious targets to improve core urgent and emergency care performance to constitutional standards, including by shortening average Category 2 response times to 18 minutes. This is being supported by practical actions, including reducing avoidable ambulance dispatches and conveyances and ambulance handover delays.

The measures being taken are already improving ambulance response times, including in North East Hampshire. The latest National Health Service performance figures for the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, which serves North East Hampshire, show that in October, Category 2 incidents were responded to in 31 minutes 54 seconds on average, over six minutes faster than the same period last year.

The Department is unable to provide this information as to do so would risk identifying individuals due to the small numbers involved.

While no such specific assessment has been made, we know that people with complex mental illnesses are not always able to access the care and treatment they need. We are determined to change that.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for the neighbourhood health service. It will bring care into local communities, convene professionals into patient-centred teams, end fragmentation, and abolish the National Health Service default of ‘one size fits all’ care. As part of this, we will transform the current mental health system so people can access the right support at the right time in the right place.

We are piloting 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres to bring together a range of community mental health services under one roof, including crisis services and short-stay beds. People with severe or complex mental illness will be able to walk in without an appointment if they need mental health support, as well as advice on employment, housing, or volunteering, delivered by a multi-disciplinary team. The centres will improve continuity of care, drive down waits, and reduce inpatient admissions. Other local areas are looking to rollout the model more widely.

In addition, working with experts and people with lived experience, we will publish a new modern service framework for severe or complex mental illness, setting consistency in clinical standards across the country so that patients and families get high quality, evidence-based treatment and support.

Exercise PEGASUS, the largest simulation of a pandemic in the United Kingdom’s history, involved thousands of participants across different parts of the exercise. Multiple other non-Governmental organisations representing the breadth of society were engaged and will continue to be in advance of phase four of the exercise in 2026. This includes engagement with partners in the pharmaceutical sector and focus groups on clinically vulnerable patient populations. These groups have included the views of mental health organisations and organisations advocating for immunosuppressed individuals.

Exercise PEGASUS, the largest simulation of a pandemic in the United Kingdom’s history, involved thousands of participants across different parts of the exercise. Multiple other non-Governmental organisations representing the breadth of society were engaged and will continue to be in advance of phase four of the exercise in 2026. This includes engagement with partners in the pharmaceutical sector and focus groups on clinically vulnerable patient populations. These groups have included the views of mental health organisations and organisations advocating for immunosuppressed individuals.

The Government has committed to communicating the findings and lessons of the exercise as recommended by the COVID-19 Inquiry, and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course. The evaluation of Exercise PEGASUS is ongoing and once complete, recommendations will be generated. The implementation and appropriate governance of these recommendations and findings is being actively considered as part of the United Kingdom’s commitment to pandemic preparedness. Exercise PEGASUS has provided valuable experience which is being used to inform the pandemic preparedness strategy and response plans.

The Government has committed to communicating the findings and lessons of the exercise as recommended by the COVID-19 Inquiry, and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course. The evaluation of Exercise PEGASUS is ongoing and once complete, recommendations will be generated. The implementation and appropriate governance of these recommendations and findings is being actively considered as part of the United Kingdom’s commitment to pandemic preparedness. Exercise PEGASUS has provided valuable experience which is being used to inform the pandemic preparedness strategy and response plans.