Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many families are receiving Healthy Start in Bournemouth West constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start, or on local constituencies specifically. The number of people on the scheme in March 2025 for all ward areas within Birmingham, Christchurch, and Poole was 1,507.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
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 diagnosis times for young people with cancer in (a) England and (b) Dorset.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster, so that more patients survive this horrible set of diseases, including children and young people. To achieve this, the NHS has delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.
On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for children and young people with cancer.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including for children and young people with cancer, and will highlight how we aim to improve diagnosis rates for people in all parts of England, including Dorset.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
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 safeguard young people from drug and alcohol addiction in (a) England and (b) Bournemouth West constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The most effective and sustainable approach to safeguarding children and young people from harm due to drugs and alcohol is by giving them the best start in life, and by keeping them safe, well, and happy. Our mission-based approach will ensure that every child has the best start in life, and that we create the healthiest generation of children ever.
Statutory guidance on relationships, sex, and health education requires all primary and secondary schools to ensure that pupils know the key facts and risks associated with alcohol and drug use, as well as how to manage influences and pressure, in order to keep themselves healthy and safe. The Department has worked with the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Association to develop lesson plans on alcohol and drugs and commissioned an update of the existing resources, which was published at the end of last year.
The Government also has an alcohol and drug information and advice service called Talk to FRANK, which aims to reduce alcohol and drug use and their harms by providing awareness to young people, parents, and concerned others. Further information on Talk to FRANK is available at the following link:
Children and families affected by parental alcohol and/or drug use can experience adverse health, social, and economic outcomes, which can continue for generations without effective interventions to break the cycle. The Department is continuing to invest in improvements to local alcohol and drug treatment services, to ensure that those in need can access high quality help and support.
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services as part of their public health responsibilities. In addition to the Public Health Grant (PHG), in 2025/26, the Department is providing a total of £310 million in additional targeted grants to improve services and recovery support, which includes housing and employment. Further details are available at the following link:
In 2025/26, the Department is providing Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole with £3,023,086 through the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Recovery and Improvement Grant, which is on top of the amount the local authority invests in their drug and alcohol treatment and recovery system through the PHG. It is for the local authority to determine what proportion of that funding it spends on supporting children and young people. In 2023/24, there were 150 children and young people, those under 18 years old, who received support through specialist services in the area. In the year to January 2025, this had risen to 163.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
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 adequacy of access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service services for special educational needs and disabilities children in Bournemouth.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that too many children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, are not receiving the mental health care they need, and that waits for mental health services are too long across England, including in Bournemouth. We are determined to change that.
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, we will provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England, introduce open access Young Futures hubs in communities, and recruit 8,500 mental health workers to cut wait times and provide faster treatment.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of pharmacies in (a) Bournemouth West constituency, (b) Dorset, (c) the South West and (d) England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority publishes the consolidated pharmaceutical list every quarter, with further information available at the following link:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/consolidated-pharmaceutical-list
The following table shows the number of pharmacies, broken down by type, in Bournemouth West, Dorset, the South West, and England, as of 31 December 2024:
Pharmacy type | Bournemouth West | Dorset | South West | England |
Community pharmacies | 20 | 132 | 895 | 10,023 |
Distance selling pharmacies | 0 | 3 | 19 | 407 |
Locally commissioned pharmacies | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
Total | 20 | 135 | 917 | 10,443 |
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for (a) autism assessments and (b) SEND assessments in (i) Bournemouth West constituency, (b) Dorset and (c) the South West in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on autism assessments is not held centrally in the format requested, but may be held by individual providers or integrated care boards (ICBs). Some relevant information is available on autism assessment waiting times for the NHS Dorset ICB and the South West commissioning region.
In the NHS Dorset ICB, the Autism Waiting Time Statistics published by NHS England show that there were a total of 1,000 patients, of all ages, with an open suspected autism referral in December 2024, the latest available data. The median waiting time of all patients in this ICB with an open suspected autism referral, where their first care contact was in the quarter, was 62 days in December 2024.
In the South West commissioning region, the Autism Waiting Time Statistics show that there were a total of 23,030 patients, of all-ages, with an open suspected autism referral in December 2024. The median waiting time of all patients in the South West commissioning region with an open suspected autism referral, where their first care contact was in the quarter, was 548 days in December 2024. Caution should be used when interpreting these statistics, since they are experimental rather than official statistics.
Schools decide whether a pupil has additional needs that warrant them being on the school's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) register. Some relevant information on waiting times for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for children with SEND is available from the GOV.UK website, with the latest data available being from 2023, at the following link:
In Dorset, 60.2% of EHCPs, including exceptions, were issued within 20 weeks, and in the South West, 33.0% of EHCPs, including exceptions, were issued within 20 weeks.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
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 adult social care provision in (a) England and (b) Bournemouth West constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the challenges facing the adult social care system, and we are taking immediate action to improve the situation. These actions include:
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes commissioning a diverse range of care and support services that enable people to access quality care. The Department funds an annual programme of support to local authorities and their partners to help them improve the delivery of their statutory duties.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
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 increase the availability of autism assessments in (a) England and (b) Bournemouth West constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of integrated care board (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessments and diagnosis, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, and should consider how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. 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 is also working with research organisations to explore evidence-based models that support improved outcomes for those people waiting for an autism assessment.
The NHS Dorset ICB advises that it has conducted a review with local partners and people with lived experience to help develop plans to improve services. The ICB plans to introduce a local tool, which will be available to people working with children and young people, to identify their individual needs and provide support ahead of assessment. The ICB further advises that it is looking at creating additional assessment appointments over the next two years, while it develops a longer-term plan to create neurodiversity services which are fit for the future and provide all local people with the support they need.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
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 the adequacy of dementia diagnosis rates in (a) England and (b) Dorset.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate (DDR) to the national ambition of 66.7%, which in England, at the end of February 2025, was 65.4%. To support the implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a memory service dashboard to support commissioners and providers with appropriate data on the diagnostic pathway and enable targeted support where needed.
To aid dementia diagnosis and provision of support in care homes, NHS England has funded an evidence-based improvement project to fund two trusts in each region (14 sites) to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate protocol. Learning is currently being shared and promoted with regional and local partners following an impact assessment of the pilots.
Published data collated in February 2025 shows that the South West region has diagnosed 61.2% of the expected prevalence. The current DDR in Dorset is 57%. Dorset Integrated Care System is finalising a formal Dementia Diagnosis Review with the aim of establishing a fully co-produced model, from pre-diagnosis to post-diagnosis, to improve the offer to their local population.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
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 ambulance waiting times in (a) Bournemouth West constituency, (b) Dorset, (c) the South West and (d) England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ambulance services in Bournemouth West, Dorset, and the South West are provided by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, with commissioning responsibility for the services being a matter for the local NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board. Specific local actions to reduce ambulance waiting times should be undertaken and agreed locally by National Health Service organisations in the best interests of the local population and patients.
At a national level, the Government and NHS England are committed to improving ambulance response times. The NHS 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance set national priorities, which include improving accident and emergency waiting times and ambulance response times compared to 2024/25.