Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women's health hubs have been established in the NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB and what services do they provide.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board has not established a single, standalone women’s health hub. Instead, services required under the Women’s Health Hub model are being delivered through general practices and primary care networks across the area including, for example, menstrual problems assessment and treatment, menopause assessment and treatment, contraceptive counselling and the provision of a full range of contraceptive methods including Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive fitting for both contraceptive and gynaecological purposes, and cervical screening. Further information on services provided is available at the following link:
https://bnssghealthiertogether.org.uk/womens-health/
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve maternity and neonatal services across England; and if she will set out how those improvements will benefit hospitals serving local residents across the South West, including those in Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will translate the recommendations from Baroness Amos’ national investigation into a single action plan to drive systemic and sustained improvement in maternity and neonatal care across the country.
We are also taking immediate action now. Since April 2025, we have invested £187 million to improve maternity and neonatal estates, we are expanding Martha’s Rule across all maternity settings, as well as implementing triage standards to ensure safe and equitable care for all women and babies regardless of location.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of levels of regional variation in access to inpatient mental health beds; and what action is being taken to ensure that patients are not required to travel excessive distances to receive appropriate care.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are developing a new mental health strategy for England, to be published later this year. The strategy will aim to transform mental health care into a system that responds earlier, reduces waiting times for support, intervenes earlier, and supports people to stay active and participate in education, work, family and community life.
The Government is making £473 million of capital funding available nationally to improve mental health, learning disability, and autism services. Of this, £130 million is allocated for eliminating inappropriate out of area placements alongside other priorities. The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework set out that in 2026/7 all integrated care boards (ICB) and providers of mental health care must reduce inappropriate out-of-area placements and locked rehabilitation inpatient services. From 2027/28 onwards, ICBs should only commission mental health inpatient services for adults and older adults that align with the NHS Commissioning Framework.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
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 improve the support available to individuals and families following a diagnosis of dementia, including access to information about local services and financial support.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government wants a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.
We will publish the first ever modern service framework for frailty and dementia to set a clear direction and a long-term blueprint to improve outcomes for people with dementia. It will cover research, diagnosis, and treatment. We are engaging with a wide group of partners to understand what should be included to ensure the best outcomes for people living with frailty and dementia and their unpaid carers.
We will also appoint a Dementia Tsar to bring strong and meaningful national leadership to drive forward the prevention, treatment, and care of dementia.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
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 adequacy of NHS provision for children and young people requiring specialist management of chronic pain, including access to services outside their local area where no appropriate local service exists.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure NHS staff are supported through bank and agency arrangements that may offer different lower pay and different conditions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. The 2025/26 planning guidance requires National Health Service providers to reduce bank expenditure by a further 10%. Bank expenditure limits have also been set for the next three years, requiring reductions of between 7.5% and 15% a year.
NHS England is developing further guidance to support NHS organisations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their staff banks. This includes consideration of bank pay alignment, local policies, and arrangements to support a consistent and sustainable approach to bank working.
These national requirements do not prescribe the contractual arrangements individual NHS organisations should use to achieve these reductions. Bank and agency arrangements, including rates of pay and terms and conditions, remain subject to local decision making.
Bank contracts are locally agreed and subject to individual NHS organisation decision making. NHS England does not determine individual trusts’ contractual arrangements with bank providers.
In addition, framework operators provide a further level of scrutiny through their established provider risk and assurance arrangements, including ongoing financial monitoring and contingency arrangements for framework suppliers.
The points raised regarding pensions and the impact on staff relate to local contractual and employment arrangements and would be for the relevant NHS organisation to address.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
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 potential impact of outsourcing staff banks on NHS staff pay, employment terms and access to NHS pension arrangements in the South West.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment has been made. The 2025/26 planning guidance requires National Health Service providers to reduce bank expenditure by a further 10%. Bank expenditure limits have also been set for the next three years, requiring reductions of between 7.5% and 15% a year.
NHS England is developing further guidance to support NHS organisations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their staff banks. This includes consideration of bank pay alignment, local policies, and arrangements to support a consistent and sustainable approach to bank working.
These national requirements do not prescribe the contractual arrangements individual NHS organisations should use to achieve these reductions. Bank and agency arrangements, including rates of pay and terms and conditions, remain subject to local decision making.
Bank contracts are locally agreed and subject to individual NHS organisation decision making. NHS England does not determine individual trusts’ contractual arrangements with bank providers.
In addition, framework operators provide a further level of scrutiny through their established provider risk and assurance arrangements, including ongoing financial monitoring and contingency arrangements for framework suppliers.
The points raised regarding pensions and the impact on staff relate to local contractual and employment arrangements and would be for the relevant NHS organisation to address.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
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 potential impact of nurse vacancies on the provision of learning disability and mental health services in Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions on recruitment and employment are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
Although the funding resource and targets do come from the Department into NHS England, it is the responsibility of NHS England and each integrated care board (ICB) to plan and determine how funding is allocated and spent locally to deliver services within an ICB area, including how this is distributed by ICBs to local ambulance trusts.
This Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that women with suspected endometriosis have access to consistent diagnostic and treatment support; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of developing of a national endometriosis care pathway.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by women with endometriosis and the impact it has on their lives, their relationships, and their participation in education and the workforce.
We are committed to improving the diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care for endometriosis. It is unacceptable that women can wait so long for an endometriosis diagnosis and we are taking action to address this.
The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy, published in April, identifies endometriosis as a priority condition, where women experience unacceptably long delays to diagnosis, pain being dismissed, and fragmented care.
The strategy commits to speeding up diagnosis and access to treatment for conditions including endometriosis by;
announcing the investment of an additional £1 million for a new programme to improve education for girls about their menstrual health, and helping them to know when to seek treatment;
redesigning clinical pathways for heavy periods to reduce repeat appointments, unnecessary referrals, and long waits;
supporting integrated care boards to introduce single points of access for gynaecology referrals; and
supporting a shift away from hospital-only care towards neighbourhood community settings.
NHS England is developing a national pelvic pain pathway including endometriosis care for local systems to adapt. This is in addition to pathways on the menopause, heavy menstrual, and urogynaecology. These pathways set out how care should be organised and delivered across self-management, primary care, intermediate, and secondary care services. Systems will be encouraged to adopt these standard pathways as part of implementing a Single Point of Access for gynaecology services and the establishment of more specialist services in the community to complement hospital care. This will help women to get care in the right place more quickly, and will ensure that women who need complex care, such as those with endometriosis, can get this in a timelier way.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase levels of early identification of mental health needs in schools, colleges, universities and workplaces.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is taking steps to support earlier identification of mental health needs across education and workplaces. In schools and colleges, mental health support teams work with education staff to identify emerging needs and help children and young people access support sooner. In universities and workplaces, we continue to promote approaches that equip staff to recognise signs of poor mental health and signpost people to appropriate support. Our forthcoming Mental Health Strategy will set out how we will transform mental health care into a system that responds and intervenes earlier, looking beyond the National Health Service to the role of schools, workplaces, local government, and the voluntary sector.