Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 merits of modular construction for the delivery of healthcare infrastructure within the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the merits of modular construction for delivering National Health Service health infrastructure, including faster construction times, cost savings, minimised disruption, higher quality and safety standards, and the use of sustainable materials and methods.
Modular construction is a modern method of construction (MMC). A toolkit has been developed to support MMC opportunities in healthcare, which is publicly available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-modern-methods-of-construction-assessment-tool-user-guide/
The toolkit is recommended for use on all healthcare infrastructure projects and is mandated for projects over £25 million to meet the business case requirements of 70% new build and 50% refurbishment using MMC.
The New Hospital Programme is already transforming the way that hospital infrastructure is constructed by using a national standardised approach, called Hospital 2.0. Hospital 2.0 uses a standardised ‘kit of parts’ for hospital components, ranging from doors to full bathroom pods, that can be assembled into different size hospitals in an optimised, consistent, and repeatable way and with off-site manufacturing and with modular construction, reducing costs and accelerating construction.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 adequacy of the funding for health bodies involved in the Right Care, Right Person framework; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on securing more funding for all bodies involved.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made such an assessment and has instead asked all integrated care boards to estimate the resourcing requirements it would take for them to deliver the Right Care, Right Person framework. In November 2024, NHS England published the document, Guidance on implementing the National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person, which includes guidance on undertaking an impact assessment to identify how different agencies and services will be impacted and how any negative impacts will be mitigated. The Department and the Home Office continue to work together to monitor the framework and its impacts, and discussions have been had between departments at junior ministerial level.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 strengthen protections for mental health nurses in the workplace.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work, including those in mental health settings. Individual employers are responsible for the health and safety of their staff, and they put in place measures, including, security, training and emotional support for staff affected by violence.
In April 2025, the Government announced that the Social Partnership Forum’s recommendations on tackling and reducing violence, part of the 2023 Agenda for Change pay deal, have been accepted. These include significant commitments to tackle violence and aggression against NHS staff including improving data and reporting of incidences and ensuring strengthened risk assessment, training and support for victims. This will be strengthened by the introduction of a new set of staff standards, as detailed in the 10-Year Health Plan, which will cover issues including tackling violence, racism and sexual harassment in the NHS workplace.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to (a) recruit, (b) train and (c) retain (i) radiologists and (ii) clinical oncologists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places, including for radiology and clinical oncology, meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. Over the next three years, we will create 1,000 new specialty training places, with a focus on specialties where there is greatest need.
We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Community Diagnostic Centres there are in Bromsgrove constituency; and how many appointments were delivered across those centres in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are currently located in the Bromsgrove constituency. The nearest CDC is the Kidderminster Treatment Centre CDC, which general practitioners in Bromsgrove may refer patients to. Bromsgrove patients can also access diagnostic services from the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
We do not hold data on the number of appointments delivered in CDCs but do publish monthly activity figures. The Kidderminster Treatment Centre CDC delivered 30,853 tests, checks, and scans in the last 12 months, from June 2024 to June 2025.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 reduce the wait times for children’s neurodevelopmental pathway assessments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has recognised that, nationally, the demand for assessments for neurodevelopmental conditions, and specifically autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has grown significantly in recent years, and that people are experiencing severe delays accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future, recognising the need for early intervention and support, without the need for diagnosis, particularly for children and young people.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including provision of neurodevelopmental services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the NHS to deliver improved outcomes for people referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and following a recent diagnosis of autism. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.
NHS England has also established an ADHD taskforce which is bringing together those with lived experience with experts from the NHS, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support. An interim report was published on 20 June, with the final report expected to be published later in the year, and we will carefully consider its recommendations.
The Government is also supporting inclusive environments and earlier intervention for children through the Early Language Support for Every Child and the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programmes.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce waiting times for specialist operations.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling waiting lists, including for specialist operations, is a key priority for the Government. We have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an additional two million appointments, tests, and operations, having delivered 4.6 million more since July 2024. This additional 4.6 million includes specialist operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and endoscopy.
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the constitutional standard that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.
The plan includes wide ranging reforms to improve patients’ access to, and experience of care, in part by reducing unnecessary appointments in favour of faster and more local diagnostics.
Dedicated and protected surgical hubs will transform the way the National Health Service provides elective care by focusing on providing high volume low complexity (HVLC) surgery, helping patients get quicker access to common surgical procedures. These surgical hubs help place HVLC surgeries away from the acute site, improving outcomes for patients, reducing pressures on hospitals, and improving capacity for more specialist procedures in the acute site. The Department is committed to increasing the number of hubs over the next three years, so that more operations can be carried out. Surgical hubs are endorsed by Getting It Right First Time, a national NHS England programme which undertakes reviews of specialities and identifies changes to improve how services are run, to create efficiencies and improve patient outcomes, including for surgical specialties.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has put mechanisms in place to allow NHS patients to provide feedback to the commissioners of publicly-funded private healthcare treatments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are the National Health Service organisations responsible for planning health services for their local population, including local commissioning decisions around publicly funded healthcare treatments by private providers.
ICBs are also responsible for enforcing contracts with providers, including independent sector providers in their area, and are best placed to ensure providers are meeting the needs of their patients, delivering the best outcomes, and preventing delays. NHS patients can share their feedback to their local ICB, details of which can be found on the following link:
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department monitors agreed (a) standards and (b) targets within privately-provided services; and whether there are any contractual consequences if performance targets are not met.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The independent sector plays a vital role in partnership with the National Health Service, delivering more than 100,000 elective appointments and procedures every week for the NHS.
Contracts are awarded to independent sector providers (ISPs) in line with the Provider Selection Regime (PSR). The PSR was introduced by regulations made under the Health and Care Act 2022, and helps ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of patients and service users. Those providers in receipt of NHS contracts must meet additional requirements, including the standards set out in the NHS Provider License and the NHS Standard Contract.
ISPs are expected to deliver services agreed in contracts with integrated care boards (ICBs), progressing priorities set out in planning guidance, including an improvement in elective waiting time performance. ICBs can take action where these targets are not met. Data published monthly by NHS England on waiting list performance is used to track performance and ensure targets are being met, and can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what provisions his Department has put in place to monitor the quality-of-care patients receive in NHS-funded treatments at private hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Throughout its history, the National Health Service has always worked with non-NHS healthcare providers to deliver essential services to patients. The Independent Sector Partnership Agreement, signed in January 2025, extends how the NHS and independent sector can work together to deliver more non-urgent care, free at the point of use.
The safety of all NHS funded patients, whether they are treated in the NHS or in an independent sector provider (ISP), is a top priority for the Government. Private providers are commissioned and managed by integrated care boards under the terms of the NHS Standard Contract, which applies the same standards of oversight and regulation as are applied to NHS providers.
All providers of healthcare, including ISPs, are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, below which care should never fall. Most independent sector care is rated as high quality by the Care Quality Commission, with 92% of providers rated as good or outstanding.
Independent provider licensing and oversight was established in 2014 under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to licence and regulate independent providers of NHS services. The oversight approach was originally focused on the financial oversight of independent providers but in 2023, in line with continuously improving the oversight of NHS-funded care at private providers, the Hard to Replace policy and the requirement to maintain standards of quality governance were introduced, giving NHS England powers to intervene with some providers where there was a risk to service continuity. Further details on these developments are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/licensing-and-oversight-of-independent-providers/