Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the capital funding required to address maintenance backlogs at (a) Bedford and (b) Luton & Dunstable hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Estates Returns Information Collection survey collects data from National Health Service trusts on the quality of their estate annually, including backlog maintenance, and the projected cost of bringing all buildings into acceptable condition. The latest backlog maintenance figures, including for Bedford and Luton and Dunstable hospitals, are available at the following link:
The Government is committed to improving our hospital estate, and that is why my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that £30 billion in capital funding will be invested over five years in the day-to-day maintenance and repair of the NHS estate, with over £5 billion specifically allocated to address the most critical building repairs.
At a local level, individual NHS organisations are responsible for maintaining their estates within their capital and revenue budgets, as set out in NHS Planning Guidance.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press notice entitled GP surgery refurbs to enable over 8 million more appointments, published on 6 May 2025, if he will publish a list of the 1000 GP surgeries receiving upgrades.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 6 May 2025, we announced which primary care schemes are in line to receive funding from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund. A full list of the schemes being prioritised for funding this year can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 increase the number of available dental appointments in (a) Mid Bedfordshire and (b) the UK.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Mid Bedfordshire constituency, this is the Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes ICB. ICBs have been asked to start making extra urgent dental appointments available from April 2025. The Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes ICB is expected to deliver 6,041 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.
ICBs have started to advertise posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. As of 10 April 2025, in England, there are 53 dentists in post with a further 44 dentists who have been recruited but are yet to start in post. Another 256 posts are currently advertised.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press release entitled Crack teams get patients off waiting lists at twice the speed, published on 16 March 2025, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of sending doctors into areas of highest economic inactivity on waiting lists in areas from which the doctors were seconded.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment is currently planned regarding the potential impact of sending doctors into areas with the highest economic inactivity on waiting lists in the areas from which the doctors were seconded.
As set out in the Elective Reform Plan, we continue to target waiting list performance across the country, so that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029. In March 2025, performance against this standard was 59.8%, 2.6% higher than a year earlier.
The Further Faster 20 programme is supporting these efforts by ensuring that this improvement is seen in areas that can benefit the most. The positive progress made from October 2024 to March 2025, with waiting lists across these areas being reduced by over 57,000, means that almost half, specifically 47.9%, of the national reduction in the overall waiting list between those months has come from the 20 hospitals involved in the scheme.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to provide for cancer research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research in (a) 2025, (b) 2026 and (c) 2027.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with cancer as one of the largest areas of spend, at over £133 million in 2023/24, reflecting its high priority. The NIHR funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research.
The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists, rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas in advance. The level of research spend in a particular area is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all cancer types. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.
We are committed to furthering our investment and support for cancer research, ensuring that funding is used in the most meaningful and impactful way.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 testing for chronic urinary tract infections.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Diagnostic tests for chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs), such as urinalysis and urine culture, are widely available across all pathology networks in England. Ensuring accurate diagnostic testing not only aids in the effective identification of infection, but can also reduce the unnecessary prescribing and overprescribing of broad-spectrum antimicrobials, directly benefitting patients who get the right treatment sooner.
General practitioners can request testing for chronic UTIs via several pathways, including at point-of-care, via community diagnostic centres, or via laboratories. Laboratories across England adhere to stringent quality standards for diagnostic tests, including the UK Accreditation Standard ISO 15189, and implement robust internal and external quality assurance schemes. Together, these measures ensure the accuracy and reliability of diagnostic testing.
The development of new products to diagnose infections more accurately is essential to ensuring we can continue to treat infections and protect public health. NHS England is also supporting research into newer, more accurate point-of-care tests for UTIs, such as via the Toucan study. Furter information on the study is available at the following link:
https://www.phctrials.ox.ac.uk/recruiting-trials/toucan-platform-for-uti-diagnostic-evaluation
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the treatment guidelines for recurring UTIs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that develops authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on best practice. The NICE has published a guideline on antimicrobial prescribing for the treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng112
The NICE keeps its published guidance under active surveillance to ensure that they are up to date and reflect any changes in the evidence base. If any new evidence comes to light, the NICE would consider the need for an update of its guideline. Both integrated care boards and healthcare providers are expected to take the national guidance into consideration when commissioning and delivering services.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish a national cancer plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan for England will be published in the second half of this year, following the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the capital funding allocated for hospital maintenance at the Autumn Budget 2024 has been allocated to (a) Bedford and (b) Luton and Dunstable Hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is backing the National Health Service with over £4 billion in operational capital in 2025/26 to fund day-to-day operational investments, including hospital maintenance. The Bedfordshire, Luton, and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System (ICS) has been provisionally allocated over £60 million of operational capital.
In addition, a £750 million estates safety fund was put in place to begin addressing some of the poorest quality infrastructure across the NHS estate in 2025/26. Estates safety funding has been provisionally allocated to ICSs based on need, critical infrastructure risk, estates incidents, and responses to the recent maternity estates survey. The Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICS has been provisionally allocated £15.5 million in estate safety funding for 2025/26, which can be allocated according to local priorities.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Over 1,500 extra GPs recruited to fix front door of the NHS, published on 8 April 2025, how many of those GPs will be deployed in (a) Mid Bedfordshire, (b) Bedfordshire and (c) rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As at 31 March 2025, 26 GPs had been recruited through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme in NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB. The number of full time equivalent ARRS GPs working in the ICB was 13.5 as at 28 February 2025.
Data on the number of roles recruited to rural areas is not held.