Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will conduct an impact assessment of the closure of Launceston Minor Injuries Unit.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is aware of the temporary closure of the Launceston Minor Injuries Unit (MIU), which is a decision that was made due to staffing challenges. The responsibility for the delivery, implementation, and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioning body, which in this case is the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB), rather than the Government. This includes the responsibility to conduct an impact assessment on traveling, provision of services, and an equality impact assessment. The Government has been informed that the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust completed an Equality Impact Assessment for the closure, which identified the impact to be increased travel time or distance to an alternative MIU.
In some scenarios, such as this one, the NHS provider may need to make a temporary service change due to a risk to safety or the welfare of patients or staff. These temporary changes do not represent a permanent or irreversible decision about an NHS service. Permanent changes would only be possible by following the due process, including appropriate engagement with people and communities.
The Government expects the local NHS to develop clear plans for reverting temporary service changes. If this cannot be done safely, the ICB will need to develop plans for a permanent solution by following the due process, including appropriate engagement with people and communities.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to build the new Women and Children's Hospital at Treliske on the local community.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new Women and Children's Hospital scheme at the Royal Cornwall Hospital is in Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme (NHP), as set out in the Plan for Implementation, and is due to commence construction between 2027 and 2028. An equality impact assessment was carried out for the review of the NHP, which included assessing the extent to which service users might be impacted by these delivery proposals, with specific reference to the impact that these might have on relevant protected characteristics. This was laid in the House Library and published on 20 January 2025, and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Authority administering the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme on (a) the number of claims made, (b) the number rejected and (c) the proportion of claimants who have been successfully completed.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) regularly publishes statistics on compensation progress on its website. As of 1 July 2025, 2,043 people have been asked to start their claim, 616 people have received an offer, and a total of 460 people have had their compensation paid.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not discussed claim statistics with the IBCA, as it is an arms-length body which is sponsored by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 reduce ambulance waiting times for elderly patients in North Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that ambulance response times, including in North Cornwall, are not meeting the high standards patients should expect.
We are determined to turn things around and our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025-26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year.
Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out how we will reform the National Health Service, including urgent and emergency care services, with a key focus on shifting urgent care into the community through new Neighbourhood Health Services.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 (a) recruit and (b) retain General Practitioner doctors in (i) North Cornwall constituency and (ii) other rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the North Cornwall constituency, as of 30 April 2025, there were 61.5 full time equivalent (FTE) doctors in general practices (GPs), an increase of 2.4 FTE compared to April 2024.
We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas have the resources to continue serving their patients and that patients can access primary healthcare in rural areas. To address this, we are increasing capacity in practices by recruiting more GPs, ensuring the necessary workforce is in place to provide integrated, patient-centred services.
We have invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, which has enabled the recruitment of over 1,700 recently qualified GPs across England since October 2024. This will increase the number of available appointments, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and alleviate the pressure on those currently working in the system. We’ve also delivered the biggest boost to GP funding in years, an £889 million uplift, with GPs now receiving a growing share of National Health Service resources. The new 2025/26 GP Contract includes key reforms to improve access to GPs, including making sure patients can request appointments online throughout core hours.
Our commitment to growing the GP workforce includes addressing the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encouraging them to return to practice. We know that high workloads can be a key driver for GPs reducing their contracted hours or leaving the profession altogether. That’s why we are tackling morale through drivers such as growing the workforce and reducing bureaucracy through our Red Tape Challenge to improve job satisfaction and reduce the risk of burnout.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 increase the uptake of HPV vaccines.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Rotherham on 5 March 2025 to Question 31921.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of high-density retirement housing schemes in rural areas that do not have corresponding funding for local healthcare infrastructure on demand for (a) GPs, (b) ambulances and (c) other NHS services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and this means we require world class infrastructure across the NHS estate. We recognise the challenges that areas of significant housing and population growth can place on primary care infrastructure.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning, planning, securing, and monitoring health services within their system boundaries through delegated responsibility from NHS England. The NHS has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including general practices, in each local area. It should take account of population growth and demographic changes associated with new retirement developments, alongside other housing growth.
Integrated care systems’ estates infrastructure strategies have been developed to create a long-term plan for future estate requirements and investment for each local area and its needs. These strategies help manage existing estates and take any future requirements into account when considering how best to deliver local services.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the challenges in the recruitment of (a) General Practitioners and (b) GP nurses in (i) North Cornwall constituency and (ii) rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We acknowledge the urgent challenge of ensuring that rural areas such as those in North Cornwall have the resources needed to service their patients, and to ensure that patients can access primary healthcare. To address this, we are increasing capacity in general practice by recruiting primary care workforce staff such as nurses and general practitioners through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, ensuring the necessary workforce is in place to provide integrated, patient-centred services.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will consider the potential merits of allocating funding for the (a) building of and (b) supplying of specialised equipment to new, purpose-built dental practices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards across England.
The NHS contracts with independent dental providers, to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings.
Dental practices can make decisions on the buildings and specialised equipment which suit their needs, providing they remain compliant with the relevant regulations.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many new NHS (a) nurses and (b) doctors will complete training in the next 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department estimates a range of between 19,000 and 22,500 nurses trained in England joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council register for the first time in the year to March 2026, based on the 23,240 acceptances to English nursing courses in the 2022 cycle, published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, as part of its undergraduate end of cycle data resources for 2024. These nurses may go on to work in the National Health Service, but also in other settings including social care or for non-NHS providers including some carrying out NHS work.
The numbers of joiners to the General Medical Council (GMC) register who are graduates of education courses in England has been increasing as medical school intakes have been expanded. We estimate between 8,000 and 8,500 doctors will join the GMC register having qualified from English universities during 2025.