Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 explore the use of final-year dental students to support NHS dentistry capacity while maintaining patient safety and training standards.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Every undergraduate dental student gains clinical experience in the course of their studies under the supervision of a qualified supervisor.
Clinical placements provide dental students with the opportunity to develop a range of skills, including clinical abilities and effective communication with both patients and colleagues. The patients receiving treatment should never be charged for the care they receive.
These placements are designed to provide students with exposure to a range of clinical environments, rather than to enhance overall National Health Service delivery.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 assessment of the potential for dental students in training to carry out supervised NHS dental appointments to help reduce the backlog in routine and urgent care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Every undergraduate dental student gains clinical experience in the course of their studies under the supervision of a qualified supervisor.
Clinical placements provide dental students with the opportunity to develop a range of skills, including clinical abilities and effective communication with both patients and colleagues. The patients receiving treatment should never be charged for the care they receive.
These placements are designed to provide students with exposure to a range of clinical environments, rather than to enhance overall National Health Service delivery.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of healthcare capacity in West Dorset, particularly regarding primary care, ambulance response times and urgent care provision in winter 2025-2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have done more than ever to prepare for this winter, stress testing winter plans across the country, including in West Dorset, making sure community teams have the vaccines they need, and identifying the patients most vulnerable in winter.
West Dorset sits within the NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB), where general practices have delivered 14.3% more appointments in September 2025, or 495,000 appointments, in comparison to September 2024, at 433,000. This is above the national average of a 6.6% increase. There is good coverage of pharmacy first services which are offered by 90% pharmacies in Dorset, and there has been a steady increase in uptake since September 2024. We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from April 2025, and these are available across the country with specific expectations for the region. There are also four pilot sites for urgent dental access running this winter which will support better local access to these services.
Urgent and emergency care has fallen short of the standards patients rightly expect in recent years. To address this, we launched our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, setting ambitious goals of at least 78% of patients in accident and emergency being seem within four hours and reducing the average Category 2 ambulance response time to 30 minutes. Backed by £450 million of capital investment, we are upgrading hundreds of ambulances and expanding the capacity of urgent and emergency care services, enhancing both the speed and quality of care for patients in greatest need.
West Dorset is served by South Western Ambulance Service. The latest National Health Service data shows that in October, the South West achieved an average Category 2 response time of 32 minutes 37 seconds, an improvement of nearly 10 minutes compared with the same month last year.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 help improve the speed and efficiency of vaccine rollout when new vaccines receive NHS approval.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting the timely delivery of new vaccination programmes to fully protect the public from vaccine preventable diseases. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation meets regularly to consider both current and future vaccine products and to advise ministers accordingly.
The Department works with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to secure supply deals with manufacturers, stockpile doses, and coordinate logistics to ensure fast deployment, working at pace to update guidelines and training documents so that the workforce providing vaccines is ready to go.
To boost capacity, the Department is exploring new ways of delivering vaccinations including health visits and community pharmacy, with pilots for administering vaccinations as part of health visits standing-up from January 2026. Digital tools also ensure speedy and efficient rollout, for instance: online booking via the NHS app; automated reminders; and data dashboards to track uptake and tweak priorities in real-time. Finally, the Department works with NHS England and the UKHSA to develop targeted communications campaigns, advertising, and social media to build trust and drive appointments, aiming for high coverage from day one. Programme planning by the UKHSA and NHS England occurs simultaneously to ensure delivery of safe, clinically effective, stable, and accessible programmes that commence at the right time and are rolled out in a timely manner after a policy decision has been made.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) additional funding and (b) operational support his Department will provide to Integrated Care Systems in (i) rural areas and (ii) West Dorset in winter 2025-2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for determining funding allocations to integrated care boards (ICBs), including those covering rural areas and West Dorset. This process is independent of the Government and is informed by advice from the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA).
Funding allocations for 2025/26, published on 30 January 2025, include an ACRA-recommended adjustment specifically focused on rurality that reflects the additional cost of providing home-delivered community services in sparsely populated areas, and recognises the longer travel times required to deliver said services. Allocations cover the whole financial year, so there is not winter specific additional funding provided. Further information on funding allocations for 2025/26 is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/allocation-of-resources-2025-26/
All ICBs and trusts have developed their own winter plans, which were stress tested at regional events throughout September to expose any weaknesses and to be strengthen where necessary. We continue to work closely with the most challenged trusts, providing targeted improvement support to help them improve their four-hour and 12-hour performance, and reduce ambulance handover delays.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 ensure that (a) Dorset County Hospital and (b) associated community services have adequate (i) staffing and (ii) resources for winter 2025-2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Both Dorset County Hospital and Dorset Healthcare, as the primary providers of community services in Dorset, have assessed their resource and capacity requirements for the winter period as part of the annual planning process. These take account of the expected impact of surges in seasonally affected conditions and the associated infection prevention and control challenges this presents.
The winter plans are underpinned by robust organisational business continuity plans to maintain services in the event of loss of workforce or service capacity and are aligned to wider system resilience planning across health and social care partners to help manage and mitigate the risks of anticipated increases in demand and acuity expected over this period. System-level plans include provision for surge and escalation responses at times of peak operational pressure.
The Dorset County Hospital has a comprehensive Operational Resilience and Capacity Plan for winter 2025/26, which aligns to NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care priorities and forms part of Dorset’s overall system plan.
The Government continues to strengthen the resilience of elective care, including through expanding valuable protected elective capacity, including in surgical hubs and community diagnostic centres.
Nationally we have invested nearly £26 billion in additional funding for supporting both immediate winter capacity and the infrastructure transformation, new surgical hubs, diagnostic scanners, and enhanced digital systems, that will establish the Neighbourhood Health Service and make future winters fundamentally different, building towards our milestone of 92% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 need for personalised care plans for stroke patients.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are committed to improving services for patients locally by increasing the provision of services outside of a hospital setting that are delivered closer to home in the community.
The National Stroke Service Model provides best practice for stroke care, including post-discharge, which should include comprehensive rehabilitation and personalised care and support.
The National Stroke Quality Improvement in Rehabilitation programme is helping to transform community-based care by increasing access to specialist stroke rehabilitation at home.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will extent the eligibility for free Covid vaccines to people with other medical conditions in West Dorset.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed.
As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will extend eligibility for free Covid vaccines to people with heart conditions in West Dorset.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.
The focus of the JCVI advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:
- adults aged 75 years old and over;
- residents in care homes for older adults; and
- individuals aged six months and over who are immunosuppressed.
As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure stroke patients receive individualised post-discharge care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are committed to improving services for patients locally by increasing the provision of services outside of a hospital setting that are delivered closer to home in the community.
The National Stroke Service Model provides best practice for stroke care, including post-discharge, which should include comprehensive rehabilitation and personalised care and support.
The National Stroke Quality Improvement in Rehabilitation programme is helping to transform community-based care by increasing access to specialist stroke rehabilitation at home.