Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 number of patients who no longer meet the criteria to reside in hospital in the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on the number of patients who no longer meet the criteria to reside at a hospital level. However, figures by trust are published monthly by NHS England, and are available at the following link:
For the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which includes the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, there were on average 159 adult patients, occupying 19.9% of adult acute beds, who had no criteria to reside but were not discharged by the end of the day in October 2025. This was 5.9% higher than the England average of 14% for October 2025.
To support trusts to tackle discharge delays, the Government published a new policy framework for the £9 billion Better Care Fund (BCF) in January 2025. This gives the National Health Service and local authorities accountability for setting and achieving joint goals for reducing discharge delays and preventing avoidable emergency admissions and care home admissions. Some areas are receiving targeted support from the BCF support programme.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 (a) support, (b) rollout and (c) ensure equality of regional access to whole Genome Sequencing for primary brain cancer patients; and what plans he has to review (i) refrigeration issues, (ii) access and (iii) speed of processing.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Genomic testing is delivered through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service via seven regional NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs (NHS GLHs). Testing follows the National Genomic Test Directory, which includes whole genome sequencing (WGS) for neurological tumours, including primary brain cancers, for both diagnostic and treatment purposes. NHS England has produced national sample handling guidance for WGS of solid tumours, including brain tumours, to standardise collection, processing, and transport. This supports collaboration between neurosurgeons, pathologists, and NHS GLHs to maintain DNA quality and improve access to WGS. Approaches to the handling of fresh tissue have been reviewed, including the use of tissue stabilisers, to reduce some of the barriers of having to acquire, freeze, and transport the frozen tissue, which will speed up processes. These measures aim to address variability and ensure equitable regional access to WGS for brain tumour patients. NHS England monitors performance through Patient Level Contract Monitoring data and works with NHS GLHs to address variation and drive improvements.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will host the Global Ministerial Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance in 2028.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom is looking forward to participating actively in the fifth Ministerial High-Level Conference on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which will be held in Nigeria in 2026. The Government is considering how best to celebrate the 2028 centenary of the UK's discovery of penicillin. We will internally consider whether this will include bidding to host the sixth Ministerial High-Level Conference on AMR, which will take place in 2028.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of payouts from maternity services were rated by Care Quality Commission as (a) outstanding, (b) good, (c) requires improvement and (d) inadequate on safety in 2025.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. NHSR has advised that the information is not held in the format requested.
NHSR does not hold data on the number or proportion of maternity service compensation payouts categorised by Care Quality Commission (CQC) safety ratings.
Clinical negligence payments often relate to incidents that happened many years ago. The legal test for negligence is completely separate from the criteria used by the CQC for safety ratings, which do not assess whether an incident meets the legal definition of negligence.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to allocate funding to innovative diagnostics to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom’s 2024 to 2029 antimicrobial resistance (AMR) national action plan (NAP) highlights the importance of accurate diagnostic testing to guide effective antibiotic use.
Outcome six of the NAP commits to cross-sector working to develop diagnostics as a tool to tackle AMR. The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), has invested over £16 million into programme funding for AMR diagnostics research. The Department also funds the NIHR HealthTech Research Centres, which accelerate development of healthcare technologies, including diagnostics.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 include all low-grade (a) Astrocytomas and (b) gliomas that eventually become high-grade terminal cancers in its forthcoming cancer plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan is to be published this year and will include further details on how outcomes will be improved for all cancer patients, including those with astrocytoma and other brain tumours.
The plan will include further details on speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.
The Government recognises the significant impact of rare cancers, such as glioma brain tumours, on patients and on their families and carers, and has invested in new lifesaving and life-improving research, supporting those diagnosed and living with brain tumours, and increasing life expectancy.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 improve support for family carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10 Year Health Plan will boost support for family carers via digital tools like MyCarer, and include them in care planning and shared decision-making processes.
We have already taken action. We have raised the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit to £196 per week - the biggest increase since 1976. We have also launched an independent commission into adult social care, to shape adult social care and address unpaid carers’ needs.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 the identification of young carers by adult mental health services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities are required by law to take reasonable steps to identify young carers in their area that need support, and to undertake an assessment of need, where appropriate. To support local authorities in their child protection duties, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in December 2024, contains provisions that will strengthen multi-agency working with children and families by introducing a new duty on safeguarding partners, including local authorities, police, and health services.
We recognise that, when someone is admitted to a mental health hospital or detained under the Mental Health Act, young carers are not always appropriately identified by adult mental health services. To improve this, as part of the reforms to the Mental Health Act, we plan to encourage individuals to make the presence of any young carers known in their Advance Choice Document. This document is intended to be a source of key information for mental health professionals if the individual experiences a mental health crisis.
Furthermore, provisions in the Mental Health Bill aim to ensure that people who care for a patient’s welfare, such as young carers, are proactively involved in the patient’s statutory care plan by the clinician. We will include guidance in the revised Mental Health Act Code of Practice to help ensure young carers are appropriately involved and supported.
NHS England is working to support the identification of young carers and has recently published guidance for general practitioners. NHS England is also utilising data to help support greater joined up work between health, education, and social care.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that UK trained doctors have a Speciality Training Pathway available to them after foundation year two.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
Speciality training positions are advertised nationally, and the process is administered by a lead deanery on behalf of the four nations of the United Kingdom. There is no obligation on NHS providers to advertise residency positions for British nationals before foreign nationals, or to hire British residents before overseas residents. The rules and criteria for recruitment into specialty training are agreed by the Medical and Dental Recruitment and Selection committees on behalf of the four statutory education bodies of the UK and must meet standards required by the General Medical Council. Working with NHS England, we continue to keep the selection process for all applicants to medical speciality training under review.
Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. However, the Government is also committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the NHS.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to ensure that the level of funding for mental health services (a) reflects changes in service demand and (b) reduces the imbalance of resource allocation between mental and physical health.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Despite the challenging fiscal environment, the Government has committed to protecting funding on mental health. We know 2025/26 will be a challenging year, and the National Health Service must live within its means. This will require a relentless focus on operational performance, recovering productivity, tackling unwarranted variation, and reducing delays and waste to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely.
Our focus on mental health will continue to be backed by the Mental Health Investment Standard in 2025/26 to ensure mental health funding is ring-fenced to support delivery of our commitments, including those outlined in the NHS Planning Guidance.