Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to support unpaid carers in rural areas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Act (2014) requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for unpaid carers. Local authorities are required to undertake a Carer’s Assessment for any unpaid carer who appears to have a need for support, and to meet their eligible needs on request from the carer.
Through the Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF), we are investing £42.6 million for innovative local projects focused on transforming the care sector. The purpose of the ARF is to support two or more projects in each area, with at least one of those having a particular focus on unpaid carers. More than half of the projects, and at least one in each integrated care system area, are focused on identifying, recognising, and supporting unpaid carers.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking legislative steps to stop private clinics prescribing puberty-blockers to children.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Following the publication of Dr Cass’ Final Report, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has made a commitment to look closely at what can be done to curtail any loopholes in prescribing practices for children with gender dysphoria, including legislative options.
The Care Quality Commission will expect registered providers to take into account the recommendations of the Cass Review. If a private organisation registered with the Care Quality Commission fails to meet the conditions of its registration, then the regulator can take enforcement action.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has given to Stonewall since 2019.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our financial records show a total sum of £6,000 paid to Stonewall between the years 2019 to 2020, as part of the Diversity Champions annual membership. This is broken down into £3,000 between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019, and £3,000 between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020. As of February 2021, the Department’s membership with Stonewall lapsed, with no further payments made from 2021 to date.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many births took place in the Maternity Unit at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston in each year since 2000.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department does not hold information on the number of births between 2000 and 2004 in the maternity unit at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston. The following table shows the number of births for each year since 2004 in the maternity unit at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston:
Year | Number of births |
2004 | 1,841 |
2005 | 1,918 |
2006 | 1,887 |
2007 | 1,987 |
2008 | 2,208 |
2009 | 2,227 |
2010 | 2,275 |
2011 | 2,184 |
2012 | 2,250 |
2013 | 2,065 |
2014 | 2,076 |
2015/16 | 2,002 |
2016/17 | 1,785 |
2017/18 | 1,941 |
2018/19 | 1,738 |
2019/20 | 1,767 |
2020/21 | 1,619 |
2021/22 | 1,803 |
2022/23 | 1,716 |
2023/24 | 1,657 |
Note: due to a change in reporting systems, the years up to 2015 were recorded as calendar years, with 2015 onward being recorded as financial years.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has provided to the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust in each year since 2015.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department allocates resource funding to NHS England who then use that to fund a series of local budgets, managed by integrated care boards (ICBs) and national budgets, managed by NHS England themselves.
ICBs then use those agreed budgets to fund the purchase of healthcare services for their local population, mostly from NHS providers.
The Department does not hold a breakdown of the sources of income received by individual trusts, but for the years requested the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust reported the following total income for its services in their year-end accounts:
Financial Year | Operating income from patient care activities (£000) | Other operating income (£000) |
2022/23 | £708,886 | £48,792 |
2021/22 | £638,695 | £41,499 |
2020/21 | £531,696 | £112,182 |
2019/20 | £475,065 | £64,183 |
2018/19 | £413,754 | £33,738 |
2017/18 | £394,512 | £38,649 |
2016/17 | £392,427 | £44,897 |
2015/16 | £386,840 | £36,588 |
2014/15 | £395,007 | £38,243 |
Source: The United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust published annual report and accounts, 2014/15 to 2022/23.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NICE is taking steps to make Enhertu available to the National Health Service to treat incurable HER2-low secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing guidance for the National Health Service on whether Enhertu can be recommended for routine NHS funding, based on an assessment of the costs and benefits. The NICE was unfortunately unable to recommend Enhertu as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources in its final draft guidance published on 5 March 2024. Stakeholders have had an opportunity to appeal against the NICE’s draft recommendations, and the NICE will consider any appeals through the established process, and will publish final guidance in due course.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are employed by NHS England in roles relating to equality, diversity and inclusivity as of 26 March 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are 51 staff with equality, diversity, or inclusion in their job title at NHS England, as of 26 February 2024. This covers a wide range of roles both supporting NHS England as an employer, and facing the wider National Health Service system, with some of these roles also covering other areas of NHS policy. NHS England has reduced the number of roles focused on equality, diversity and inclusion as part of its merger with NHS Digital and Health Education England. The roles that remain are essential to helping the NHS meet its legal duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the principles that guide the NHS Constitution. This includes overseeing statutory programmes that are focused on tackling discrimination by some staff which includes disabled staff, as well as roles dealing with the sexual safety of staff and patients in the NHS.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were employed by United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table below shows the number of full-time equivalent doctors and nurses, the latter of which includes health visitors, employed by the United Lincolnshire Hospital NHS Trust, in December of each of the last five years:
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Doctors | 802 | 882 | 922 | 997 | 1,080 |
Nurses | 1,626 | 1,611 | 1,723 | 1,809 | 2,105 |
Source: data is based on the monthly National Health Service workforce statistics published by NHS England, available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of operations that were (a) cancelled and (b) delayed by more than two months due to the industrial action by junior doctors in 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of operations that were cancelled due to the industrial action by junior doctors in 2023, was 157,570. Data is not held regarding operations delayed by more than two months. The National Health Service is prioritising urgent, emergency, and cancer care, and will continue to do its best to maintain appointments and elective procedures wherever possible. Cancelled appointments that need to be rescheduled, will be done so as a priority. Data on the impact of industrial action is available here:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help reduce waiting times for children in need of kidney transplants.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are working with NHS Blood and Transplant to help reduce waiting times for children in need of kidney transplants. This includes implementing initiatives to improve the use of living donor kidney transplantation in paediatric centres, engaging with transplant centres to review patients who are too unwell to receive a transplant, and reducing long waiters, which are patients who wait more than 104 days for a transplant.
Nation-wide campaigns have been developed to increase paediatric registrations on the organ donor register, for example Ralph’s campaign, and the school’s education programme has been refreshed for younger children. A paediatric perfusion programme is also being developed to increase the use of kidneys from donors after circulatory death for paediatric patients.