Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP practices have closed in the last 12 months; and and GPs have (a) resigned and (b) retired in the same period of time.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on GP practices, including closure dates, is published as part of the ‘GP and GP practice related data’ set, available at the following link:
Data on GP workforce can be found here:
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients were registered at each (a) main practice and (b) branch surgery in Calder Valley constituency in (i) July 2025 and (ii) March 2026.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of registered patients at each practice in the Calder Valley constituency on 1 July 2025, and on 1 February 2026, as this is the most recent available data:
Practice code | Practice name | Registered patients, 1 February 2026 | Registered patients, 1 July 2025 |
B84003 | Rydings Hall Surgery | 7,727 | 7,789 |
B84004 | Hebden Bridge Group Practice | 18,577 | 18,592 |
B84006 | Todmorden Group Practice | 16,041 | 16,146 |
B84007 | Brig Royd Surgery | 10,600 | 10,655 |
B84008 | The Northolme Practice | 16,442 | 16,309 |
B84009 | Stainland Road Medical Centre | 11,540 | 11,493 |
B84011 | Church Lane Surgery | 10,984 | 11,032 |
B84014 | Rastrick Health Centre | 5,563 | 5,421 |
B84016 | Bankfield Surgery | 11,356 | 11,394 |
B84623 | Longroyde Surgery | 5,126 | 5,038 |
In addition, the following table shows which practices are branches of main practices within the Calder Valley constituency, excluding COVID vaccination service branches:
Branch code | Branch name | Main practice name |
B84004002 | The Health Centre | Hebden Bridge Group Practice |
B84004003 | Grange Dene Medical Centre | Hebden Bridge Group Practice |
B84016001 | Bankfield Surgery at Rosemount House | Bankfield Surgery |
As patients are registered to main practices, there is no data for the number of patients registered to branch practices.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of ambulance response cases in Category 3 and Category 4 incidents that involved patients waiting over 5 hours for an ambulance for each region of the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on ambulance response times for England as part of the Ambulance Quality Indicators publication. The publication can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/
NHS England does not publish performance response time data that allows for an assessment of the number of patients who wait over five hours. It does publish the 90th centile performance, the threshold that the 10% of incidents with the highest response time are greater than.
Ambulance response times for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are published by their own health services respectively and can be found online. The response time categories and thresholds differ from those used in England, and as such direct comparisons cannot be made. The separate publications for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are available, respectively, at the following three links:
https://www.scottishambulance.com/our-board/board-papers/
https://jcc.nhs.wales/insighthub/asi/
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/emergency-care-and-ambulance-statistics
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the written statement on 26 February 2026 titled Data Linkage Study, whether he plans to complete the data linkage study before the Pathways puberty blockers trial commences.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data linkage study is an important commitment within a wider national gender research programme, which is being jointly delivered by NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
The data linkage study is observational in nature, linking and analysing existing, routinely collected healthcare data for adults who, as children, were referred into the former Gender Identity Development Service, previously operated by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. It is important to highlight that as the study is not designed as a comparative clinical trial, it will not provide direct evidence on the cause or effect of any individual treatment approach, nor provide evidence relating to any treatment’s safety or efficacy. Its findings will relate to a former, decommissioned model of NHS care and to a previous cohort of children and young people with gender incongruence.
The PATHWAYS suite of studies, including the currently paused clinical trial, and the data linkage study, have very different designs and will generate different types of new evidence. They remain separate elements of the wider national gender research programme, and their delivery timelines are not co-dependent.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the provision of NHS audiology services in Dewsbury and Batley constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is supporting provider organisations and integrated care boards who are the commissioners of audiology services to improve performance and reduce waiting lists for appointments and assessments for hearing services. This includes capital investment to upgrade audiology facilities in National Health Service trusts, expanding audiology testing capacity via community diagnostic centres, and direct support through a national audiology improvement collaborative.
Data is also published on community health services waiting lists, which includes waiting times for community audiology services. This is published at the following link:
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the written statement on 26 February 2026 titled Data Linkage Study, whether he expects the data linkage study to be completed before the abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department currently expects the data linkage study analysis to have been completed, or be close to completion, by April 2027, dependent on the timing of research approvals being secured. However, should any remaining actions be required to complete, and publish the findings of, the study at the point NHS England is abolished, these will transfer as legacy delivery commitments for completion by the Department.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in relation to the GP contract 2026/27, how his Department plans to support hospitals in dealing with the increased caseloads generated by mandating Advice and Guidance.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Advice and Guidance (A&G) is a clinical collaboration tool that supports timely specialist input and helps patients receive care in the right setting, enabling best use of clinical time.
The GP Contract 2026/27 sets out that practices will be required to use A&G prior to, or in place of, a planned care referral where clinically appropriate. It also sets out the expectation for practices to follow locally agreed referral pathways, including single point of access (SPoA) models once introduced. Similarly, our Medium-term Planning Framework, published in October 2026, introduced plans to support increased A&G by moving to an elective SPoA model. All appropriate referrals and requests, other than those for urgent suspected cancer, will be directed through a single ‘front door’ to support triage to the most appropriate next step or outcome for the patient. This will help reduce unnecessary appointments, making the best use of clinical time. The Medium-Term Planning Framework set the aim for all referrals to go via a SPoA for at least 10 specialties determined at provider level by October 2026, which provides flexibility for local teams to deliver where there is the most potential for the model to be effective, including ensuring timely responses.
Integrated care boards are expected to support the introduction of expanded A&G and SPoA through their strategic commissioning for 2026/27. National Health Service trusts will continue to be funded to deliver A&G through a fixed payment negotiated locally to ensure predictable and sufficient funding to cover increased A&G use. NHS England will continue to work with systems to monitor performance, share good practice, and support timely responses, including through job planning guidance that supports clinicians to manage A&G safely and appropriately.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the £70 million allocated in the Autumn Budget 2024 for new linear accelerator (LINAC) machines has been spent to date; how many new LINAC machines have been procured with that funding; what is the location of those new LINAC machines; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those deployments on the level of patient care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The £70 million investment is in the process of being spent, machines have been ordered, and they are being rolled out across the country, with some treating patients already. These 28 new, cutting-edge machines will reduce waiting times and provide 15% more treatments allowing 27,500 extra patients to be treated every year. This means more equal access and better outcomes for cancer patients across England.
The new radiotherapy machines are located at: Addenbrooke’s Hospital; Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital; Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre at Bristol Royal Infirmary; Charing Cross Hospital; The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, in the Withington Site; Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, in the Liverpool Site; Colchester General Hospital; Derriford Hospital; Freeman Hospital; Guy’s Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital; Hereford County Hospital; James Cook University Hospital; Kent and Canterbury Hospital; Lincoln County Hospital; North Middlesex University Hospital; Northampton General Hospital; Nottingham City Hospital; Royal Berkshire Hospital; Royal Cornwall Hospital; Royal Derby Hospital; Royal Marsden Hospital, in Sutton, Surrey; Royal Preston Hospital; Royal Surrey Hospital; Southend University Hospital; St Bartholomew’s Hospital; University College Hospital; Weston Park Cancer Centre; and Worcestershire Royal Hospital. In addition, four trusts, namely University Hospitals Birmingham, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, Southend, and Hereford and Gloucestershire, have received a contribution towards the cost of bunker refurbishment.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of corridor care in Emergency Departments on patient safety, dignity, and clinical outcomes; and what actions are being taken to address the routine treatment of acutely ill patients in corridor settings.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The provision of clinical care in corridors is unacceptable, and we are committed to ending its practice in the National Health Service. Furthermore, our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 commits to publishing data on the prevalence of corridor care for the first time.
We recently published a clear definition of corridor care and based on this, will begin collecting data on its use across the NHS imminently. Subject to data quality, this information will be published monthly on NHS England’s website from May 2026. In parallel, NHS England is also working with trusts to introduce new reporting arrangements on corridor care to improve transparency and support system-wide improvement.
We have also introduced new clinical operational standards for the first 72 hours of care, setting clear expectations for timely reviews and specialist input, further supporting our efforts to eliminate corridor care and improve patient experience.
Where corridor care cannot be avoided, we have published updated guidance to support trusts to deliver it safely, ensuring dignity and privacy is maintained to reduce impacts on patients and staff. This means that corridor care areas must uphold the same high standards of care for patients as those in planned clinical settings, with patients prioritised by clinical urgency. All patients should be risk‑assessed by senior clinicians at triage and monitored by named nurses.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the average ambulance waiting times for (a) Category 1, (b) Category 2, (c) Category 3 and (d) Category 4 incidents for each region of the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on ambulance response times for England as part of the Ambulance Quality Indicators publication. The publication can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/
The following table shows latest published performance data for ambulance response times in England, broken down by ambulance category:
Ambulance category | Performance standard | Latest published performance (January 2026) |
C1 average | 7 minutes | 8:08 |
C1 90th centile | 15 minutes | 14:27 |
C2 average | 18 minutes | 35:04 |
C2 90th centile | 40 minutes | 1:13:53 |
C3 90th centile | 2 hours | 5:02:09 |
C4 90th centile | 3 hours | 6:37:43 |
Ambulance response times for Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are published by their own health services respectively and can be found online. The response time categories and thresholds differ from those used in England, and as such direct comparisons cannot be made. The separate publications for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are available, respectively, at the following three links:
https://www.scottishambulance.com/our-board/board-papers/
https://jcc.nhs.wales/insighthub/asi/
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/emergency-care-and-ambulance-statistics