Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 access to GP surgeries in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recently announced schemes which will benefit from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund (PCUMF), to deliver upgrades this financial year to more than a thousand general practice surgeries across England. These schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care.
This will directly address the issue of staff who cannot work at full capacity due to space limitations and will enable practices to offer more appointments with their existing workforce through better use of space. The Government has already hired more than 1,500 extra general practitioners and announced an £889 million funding boost, the biggest for the sector in years.
The Somerset Integrated Care Board has prioritised 16 schemes to support with its £1 million allocation from the PCUMF, two of which are in the Yeovil Constituency. The Somerset Integrated Care Board has also been provisionally allocated the following amounts from capital programmes and operational capital for 2025/26:
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to prevent the planned closure of Yeovil District Hospital’s Maternity Unit.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is aware of temporary changes to services at Yeovil District Hospital that have been made in response to several factors, including a recent Care Quality Commission inspection and not being able to currently meet staffing levels required to provide safe services for babies and families.
The temporary closure is for an initial period of six months, when births and expectant mothers are being offered safe birthing at surrounding hospitals in Taunton, Dorchester and Bath. Outpatient clinics for pregnant mothers such as obstetric and midwifery antenatal clinics, scanning, antenatal screening services and home births will continue at Yeovil District Hospital as normal.
The South West NHS England regional team, NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust are working collectively to mitigate the risk of this temporary closure and ensure the wider systems work together to provide safe services in the meantime. Responsibility for the delivery, implementation and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioning body.
There are real issues in maternity care, but also outstanding examples of care. It will not be an overnight recovery, but we will be making steady improvements to ensure all women receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care. The Government continues to work with the NHS as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal plan to improve maternity and neonatal services.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 potential impact of the planned closure of Yeovil District Hospital’s Maternity Unit on (a) public health and (b) patient safety in South Somerset.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is aware of temporary changes to services at Yeovil District Hospital that have been made in response to several factors, including a recent Care Quality Commission inspection and not being able to currently meet staffing levels required to provide safe services for babies and families.
The temporary closure is for an initial period of six months, when births and expectant mothers are being offered safe birthing at surrounding hospitals in Taunton, Dorchester and Bath. Outpatient clinics for pregnant mothers such as obstetric and midwifery antenatal clinics, scanning, antenatal screening services and home births will continue at Yeovil District Hospital as normal.
The South West NHS England regional team, NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust are working collectively to mitigate the risk of this temporary closure and ensure the wider systems work together to provide safe services in the meantime. Responsibility for the delivery, implementation and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioning body.
There are real issues in maternity care, but also outstanding examples of care. It will not be an overnight recovery, but we will be making steady improvements to ensure all women receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care. The Government continues to work with the NHS as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal plan to improve maternity and neonatal services.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 help support (a) NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board and (b) local hospital trusts to (i) improve working culture and (ii) reduce stress-related illness in hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government inherited a broken National Health Service with an overworked and demoralised workforce.
We hugely value all NHS staff and are committed to improving organisational culture and working conditions, so we can keep staff healthy, motivated, and retain valuable skills. That is why one of the government’s first actions was to give NHS staff an above inflation pay rise.
Local employers across the NHS have arrangements in place for supporting staff, including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and a focus on healthy working environments. At a national level, NHS England has made available additional support, including emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to support the provision of maternity services in south Somerset.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware of temporary changes to services at Yeovil District Hospital, which have been made in response to several factors including responding to a recent Care Quality Commission inspection and due to not currently being able to meet staffing levels required to provide safe services for mothers, babies and families. The South West NHS England regional team, integrated care board and trust are monitoring the situation closely and working collectively to review the situation and develop proposals to ensure safe future service provision of maternity services.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 help improve support for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for allocating funding to integrated care boards (ICBs), including the Somerset ICB which covers the Yeovil constituency, and ICBs are in turn responsible for commissioning specialist myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), services to meet the needs of their population, subject to local prioritisation and funding.
The process of commissioning services should take into account best practice guidance such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance on ME/CFS diagnosis and management, published in October 2021. The NICE’s guidelines provide recommendations on the principles of care for people with severe ME/CFS, including hospital care, and adapting a multidisciplinary approach involving access to a range of health and social care professionals based on needs.
At a national level, we aim to publish the ME/CFS final delivery plan by the end of June 2025. The plan will focus on boosting research, improving attitudes and education, and bettering the lives of the people with this debilitating disease. The responses to the interim delivery plan consultation, along with continued close engagement with the Government, the National Health Service, and external stakeholders, will inform the development of the final ME/CFS delivery plan.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 potential impact of (a) intergenerational inequality and (b) socio-economic status on mental health.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that many young people are particularly struggling with their mental health, and we know that socio-economic factors play an important role in supporting positive mental health and wellbeing.
That is why, as part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and create a network of open access community Young Futures hubs. We will also recruit 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult services to ease pressure on busy mental health services.
The Get Britain Working White Paper confirms the Government’s commitment to continuing to expand the number of places on Individual Placement Support schemes to help thousands more people with severe mental illness find and stay in employment, helping to interrupt the vicious cycle between poverty and mental illness.
Beyond this, we are taking a whole-of-Government approach to mental health and working with other Government departments to address intergenerational inequality and the socioeconomic determinants of mental health through the vehicle of the Government’s missions.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 help improve the early diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICB) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the report expected in the summer.
The Somerset ICB advises that it introduced a children and young people’s neurodevelopmental pathway and partnership advice line in 2021. The pathway offers assessment and support for ADHD and autism and since its introduction, NHS Somerset has doubled the capacity for first assessments. In respect of adults, the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is working collaboratively with local partners to develop a new pathway and service model for the assessment and treatment of ADHD.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the cost of untreated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No formal assessment has been made of the cost of untreated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the report expected in the summer. The taskforce is considering the impact of not treating ADHD as part of its work.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of letters on NHS (a) appointments and (b) test results received late by patients in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is not held centrally in the format requested.