Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what actions he is taking to reduce the length of time older people spend on trolleys in Accident and Emergency departments, including cases where patients wait many hours or days; and what assessment he has made of the impact of such waits on dignity, safety and health outcomes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years and is taking action to improve services for patients. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the National Health Service constitutional standard and to reducing long waits that can result in patients receiving care in inappropriate settings. To support this, we are investing £450 million to expand same-day and urgent care services and to improve hospital flow, with a focus on addressing the longest waits and improving patient experience.
As committed to in the Urgent and Emergency Care plan, we will publish data on the prevalence of corridor care for the first time. NHS England has been working with trusts since 2024 to put in place, new reporting arrangements to drive improvement. The data quality is currently being reviewed, and we expect to publish the information shortly.
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.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements, reducing the proportion of patients waiting more than 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10% of the time. This includes expanding urgent community care, such as urgent community response, neighbourhood multidisciplinary teams, and virtual wards, to reduce avoidable emergency department attendances and hospital admissions. We have asked NHS trusts to focus on eliminating discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by issues within the hospital, and to work with local authorities on eliminating the longest delays. The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework sets out a year-on-year trajectory to improve performance towards the constitutional standard, reduce long waits, and improve safety and efficiency in emergency departments.
We have also introduced new clinical operational standards for the first 72 hours of care to support better hospital flow. These set minimum expectations for timely review, availability of advice, and coordinated care when multiple specialist teams are involved, to improve patient care and flow through the hospital.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that older patients are not discharged from hospital prematurely due to bed pressures; and what measures are in place to safeguard patient safety during the discharge process.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all patients are discharged from hospital appropriately with the right care and support in place. Clinicians in every speciality use a set of criteria and clinical judgement to determine when a patient is medically fit for discharge, and where people need further care after discharge, multi-disciplinary care transfer hubs bring together the National Health Service, local authorities, social care, housing, and other professionals to make arrangements for safe and timely discharge.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that patients discharged from hospital receive appropriate aftercare and follow‑up, particularly older patients at higher risk of complications; and whether his Department plans to improve coordination of post‑discharge support.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work with the systems facing the greatest challenges to embed best practice in discharge processes, improve patient flow, and ensure timely follow‑up and community support for those most at risk of complications.
For people who need further care after discharge, a multi-disciplinary care transfer hub in each area brings together National Health Service, local authority, social care, housing, and other professionals to ensure timely discharge and suitable ongoing care and support.
As part of the Better Care Fund framework for 2025/26, the NHS and local authorities in every area are encouraged to work together to review the capacity needed to support hospital discharge for people with more complex needs. This includes ensuring there is sufficient capacity to rehabilitation and recovery services to support a timely and effective discharge, or to support avoidable admissions. It is for local systems to determine the right mix of services for their population.
In 2026/27, the Better Care Fund will continue to focus on those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation, and reablement.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve coordination between NHS services and local government in providing aftercare and community support for elderly and frail people following discharge from hospital.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work with the systems facing the greatest challenges to embed best practice in discharge processes, improve patient flow, and ensure timely follow‑up and community support for those most at risk of complications.
For people who need further care after discharge, a multi-disciplinary care transfer hub in each area brings together National Health Service, local authority, social care, housing, and other professionals to ensure timely discharge and suitable ongoing care and support.
As part of the Better Care Fund framework for 2025/26, the NHS and local authorities in every area are encouraged to work together to review the capacity needed to support hospital discharge for people with more complex needs. This includes ensuring there is sufficient capacity to rehabilitation and recovery services to support a timely and effective discharge, or to support avoidable admissions. It is for local systems to determine the right mix of services for their population.
In 2026/27, the Better Care Fund will continue to focus on those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation, and reablement.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to create a pathway for NHS (a) diagnosis and (b) care for (i) hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and (ii) hypermobility spectrum disorders.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission services which meet the needs of their local population, including for those with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders. It is the responsibility of ICBs, working with clinicians, service users, and patient groups, to develop services and care pathways that meet patients’ needs.
The 10-Year Health Plan for England will improve services for people with EDS and other long-term conditions by shifting care to the community with neighbourhood teams, expanding access to physiotherapy and rehabilitation, and using digital innovation to help patients self-manage and receive more integrated, personalised care. This approach aims to provide more proactive and accessible support by bringing services closer to home and making it easier for patients to access the help they need.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what training is provided to healthcare professionals to (a) identify and (b) help tackle the causes of mental distress.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual health care providers are responsible for ensuring that their staff have the knowledge, skills, and competence to meet the specific needs of the communities they serve. To support this, NHS England offers a wide range of training opportunities designed to help mental health professionals identify and address the possible causes of mental distress.
These programmes cover a variety of settings, from early intervention and preventative psychological therapies services, such as Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges and Talking Therapies for adults, to crisis services for individuals with severe mental health conditions who may be at risk of harming themselves or others. In addition, NHS England provides training for staff working in physical health, accident, and urgent care centres, ensuring they are equipped to support individuals presenting with mental distress across demographics.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
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 implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Centre for Social Justice's report entitled Change the Prescription, published in January 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that for some people, treatment through medication may not be the best option, which is why we are continuing to expand access to alternative forms of treatment through NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support schemes. This demonstrates our commitment to addressing the root causes of mental health issues and to providing support for people to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work.
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, we are recruiting 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services to help ease pressure on busy services.
We continue to work with NHS England to consider options to deliver this commitment, alongside publishing a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade. There are a wide range of factors that will affect this future growth of the NHS mental health workforce, and we will provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that variations in local NHS (a) capacity and (b) resourcing of (i) Early Access Programmes and (ii) the availability of tofersen support the reduction of health inequalities.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has received the application for tofersen and is currently reviewing it rapidly for quality, safety, and efficacy, for use in the United Kingdom.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.
The NICE has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by SOD1 gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases, and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources.
Companies may put in place Early Access Programmes (EAPs) to allow early access to new medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation. Participation in EAPs is decided at an individual NHS trust level, and under these programmes, the cost of the drug is free to both the patients taking part in it, and to the NHS, although NHS trusts must still cover the administration costs and provide clinical resources to deliver the EAP.
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) career and (b) job search support provisions available to junior doctors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has been no recent assessment. Under the UK Foundation Programme curriculum, foundation doctors should receive career guidance and advice from educational supervisors, along with the opportunity to explore potential careers.
A variety of other tools and support are available to support resident doctors with their career development and job searches. This includes an e-learning for healthcare course on career planning, and guidance on training pathways and career opportunities for doctors on the NHS Health Careers website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/doctors
Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has considered reformulating unfilled training posts to enable them to be given to medical students in their second foundation year who have prior experience in the relevant department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has been no such consideration. Foundation training and medical speciality training involve different responsibilities, expectations, and levels of experience. The two-year foundation programme acts as a bridge between medical school and specialty training. The programme provides trainees with the defined practical skills, competencies, and sound knowledge of how to manage acutely ill patients that prepares them for entry into specialty training.