Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for each wave of Mental Health Support Teams up to Wave 12, what the anticipated ratio of FTE clinical staff (a) was and (b) is in the Mental Health Support Team to pupil numbers in the schools covered.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) typically comprise of approximately eight full-time equivalent (FTE) clinical staff. Each team was anticipated to cover a population of between 8,000 and 8,500 children and young people. This figure refers to the total population covered by an MHST, not the number of children and young people receiving direct care.
The most recent coverage analysis indicates that MHSTs support an average population of approximately 8,300 children and young people. This equates to a current estimated ratio of FTE clinical staff to children and young people of approximately 1:1,037.
In July 2025, the National Children’s Bureau published an independent MHST evaluation report, Evaluating the implementation of the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper programme. According to survey data published as part of this report, 86% of respondents in schools and colleges were satisfied or very satisfied with the direct interventions that the MHST provided for pupils/students or families. The evaluation report is available at the following link:
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the potential of (a) business rates revaluation and (b) the new multiplier bands from April 2026 on (i) NHS hospitals (ii) other NHS facilities and (ii) facilities of other services contracted to the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No additional funding has been made to National Health Service hospital trusts as a result of business rates revaluation and the new multiplier bands from April 2026. However, the Government uses the Market Forces Factor (MFF) within the NHS payment scheme to account for the higher business rates that providers in high-value areas pay. This mechanism adjusts resource allocations to ensure fairness across different regions. So increased costs will feed into the MFF and allocations.
NHS England has not made an assessment of the business rates revaluation and the new multiplier bands on the NHS. However, NHS England does have regular conversations with NHS hospitals to understand their financial position against the plan and will work with them to address any specific issues raised.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether funding for NHS hospital trusts will be adjusted as a result of business rates revaluation and the new multiplier bands from April 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No additional funding has been made to National Health Service hospital trusts as a result of business rates revaluation and the new multiplier bands from April 2026. However, the Government uses the Market Forces Factor (MFF) within the NHS payment scheme to account for the higher business rates that providers in high-value areas pay. This mechanism adjusts resource allocations to ensure fairness across different regions. So increased costs will feed into the MFF and allocations.
NHS England has not made an assessment of the business rates revaluation and the new multiplier bands on the NHS. However, NHS England does have regular conversations with NHS hospitals to understand their financial position against the plan and will work with them to address any specific issues raised.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a national strategy for palliative and end of life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
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 level of incidence of hospital-acquired deconditioning among elderly patients in (a) acute hospitals and (b) community hospitals.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the level of incidence of hospital acquired deconditioning among elderly patients in acute hospitals or community hospitals, as the National Health Service does not routinely measure this.
However, we remain committed to reducing deconditioning in in-patient settings through a strong focus on supporting health and care needs in the community wherever possible, reducing delays to discharge, and strengthening rehabilitation and reablement services.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the total staff remuneration through bank staff arrangements paid otherwise than through NHS Professionals Bank staff contracts in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Bank staffing allows the National Health Service to meet workforce demand fluctuations without the need to increase capacity above that which is required on a sustained basis. NHS England publishes the total bank and agency spend for providers on a quarterly basis. This includes NHS Professionals as NHS England does not hold a split of spend by companies. The information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publications/financial-performance-reports/
NHS Professionals’ annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025 shows that remuneration paid through NHS Professionals Bank staff contracts for 2024/25 was approximately £1.1 billion. This information is available at the following link:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06704614/filing-history
However, definitions used in the two publications may vary so the data is not necessarily comparable.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department holds data on the average number of patients typically cared for per nurse for stepdown care for patients in (a) Pathway 1 - home care and (b) Pathway 2 - community hospital care, (i) in England and (ii) by any geographical segmentation in the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not hold this information centrally.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
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 seasonality patterns in the numbers of people leaving hospital on (a) discharge pathway 0 (b) discharge pathway 1 (c) discharge pathway 2 and (d) discharge pathway 3 in each of the last three years.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Hospital discharge and the numbers of people discharged on pathways 0-3 are monitored on a regular basis and figures are published monthly by NHS England via the Acute Discharge Situation Report. The reports are available at the following link:
Data from 2022/23 and 2023/24 shows a general increase in discharges over the two years, but the proportion of people being discharged to each pathway remain relatively stable between the summer period, from April to September, and winter periods, from October to March. Definitions for data collected on discharge pathways changed from 27 May 2024 onwards, and figures from before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable.
To support areas to achieve timely hospital discharge, this Government published a new policy framework in January 2025 for the £9 billion Better Care Fund, which provides the National Health Service and local authorities accountability for setting and achieving joint goals for reducing discharge delays, preventing avoidable emergency admissions and care home admission. Some challenged systems in need of additional support are also receiving a programme of improvement support.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 905924 on Health Services: Rehabilitation, what the percentage numbers were for causes of delayed discharge for (a) Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (b) Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust in each month of 2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no data on discharge delays relating to rehabilitation alone, but information on the reasons for delayed discharges are published monthly by NHS England and are available at the following link:
The tables attached show the proportion of delayed discharges where the primary reason for the delay was related to securing rehabilitation, reablement, or recovery services, for patients with a length of stay of 14 days or over, each month between January 2025 and September 2025 for the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. These delays were either linked to capacity constraints or occurred during the brokerage processes at the interface between the National Health Service, local authorities, social care and/or housing partners.
Please note that unlike the response to Question 905924, we have provided data for patients with length of stays of 14 days or more, as the seven day or more length of stay data is only available from the September 2025 publication.
To support trusts with reducing delayed discharges, the Government published a new policy framework in January 2025 for the £9 billion Better Care Fund, which provides the NHS and local authorities accountability for setting and achieving joint goals for reducing discharge delays and preventing avoidable emergency admissions and care home admission. Some challenged systems in need of additional support are also receiving a programme of improvement support.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
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 trends in the seasonality of demand patterns for community hospital beds for elderly people in the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a neighbourhood health service that will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can: digitally by default, in a patient’s home, if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary.
We have not analysed trends in the seasonality of demand patterns for community hospital beds for elderly people in the last three years because we do not have sufficient data to enable us to make an accurate assessment.