Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 ensure people do not have to wait to access mental health services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into community-based mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App.
The plan will build on the work that has already begun to bring down waiting lists. This includes providing an extra £688 million in Government funding this year to transform mental health services, in order to hire more staff, deliver more early interventions, and get waiting lists down. Almost 8,000 additional mental health workers have been recruited since July 2025, latest data shows.
The latest recruitment milestone means the government has almost reached its target of hiring an additional 8,500 mental health staff, helping get people the care they need so they can get back to work, school and doing what they love.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 number of in person GP appointments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one. The National Health Service is clear that general practices must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations, and patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and their preferences for face-to-face care respected unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.
We are boosting capacity in general practice so patients can get the appointments they need, including face‑to‑face. We have invested £160 million through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to bring over 2,000 extra General Practitioners (GPs) into Primary Care Networks, increasing appointment availability across England.
We are investing a further £485 million in 2026/27, bringing the total spend on the GP contract to over £13.8 billion and introducing a new practice‑level GP reimbursement scheme. The scheme, worth £292 million, will fund additional GPs or more GP sessions with existing GPs, equivalent to around 1,600 full‑time GPs nationally. This will strengthen capacity, improve access to face-to-face appointments and improve patient satisfaction.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 potential impact of digital health forms on elderly people's access to health services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service organisations must ensure all patients have equitable access to care, and that decisions or policies do not unfairly disadvantage people or lead to an increase in inequalities. All NHS organisations are legally obliged to not discriminate.
This means that although we promote digital first services to those who choose to use them, a non-digital solution should be available for those patients who cannot or do not wish to engage digitally, which may include elderly people, to ensure continued, equitable access to care.
These non-digital routes must be available for all services provided by NHS organisations.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what procedures are in place to help prevent the inward transmission of diseases to through international airports.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Biological Security Strategy provides the overarching national strategic framework for biological risks.
The Public Health Aircraft Regulations (1979) require commanders of incoming aircraft to notify authorities if there is any suspicion of infectious disease. In England, Port Health Authorities and local authorities have statutory responsibility for public health, which includes ensuring that arrangements are in place to help prevent the inward transmission of disease entering their respective ports. An example is monitoring vector control measures such as disinsection, or the measures to kill insect vectors of human disease.
In English airports, the authorities appoint Medical Officers responsible for notifying, coordinating, investigating, and responding to public health risks in collaboration with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) regional health protection teams. UKHSA regional health protection teams plan for and respond to incidents for health hazards at ports of entry, supported by the national UKHSA Border Health team. Assessment, treatment, and care of patients is undertaken by the National Health Service through routine pathways.
Additional proportionate measures may be put in place in response to significant incidents or outbreaks which are coordinated nationally. Pre-entry screening for tuberculosis (TB) is also compulsory for those who wish to stay in the United Kingdom for over six months and are travelling from a country where TB is common. Information on TB Screening for the UK is published at the following link:
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what targets his Department has for NHS trusts regarding wait times for an ultrasound scan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to bring down the size of the list and reduce waiting times, including for ultrasound.
The National Imaging Data Collection (NIDC) is an annual retrospective data collection for NHS imaging services within England, including the number of reported imaging assets, including ultrasound scanners. The latest collection was published in February 2026 and details that as of March 2025, there were 3,620 ultrasound assets in England, an increase of 152 compared to March 2024. The NIDC can be found at the following link:
The constitutional standard for patients waiting for a diagnostic test, including non-obstetric ultrasound, is that no more than 1% of patients will wait over six weeks from the point of referral. NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework formally commits the NHS to achieve this 1% constitutional standard by March 2029. By March 2027, the national performance target is that no more than 14% of patients are waiting over six weeks for a test, with every system required to deliver a minimum 3% performance improvement or ensure performance is at 20% or lower, whichever level of improvement is greater.
Six-week wait performance for non-obstetric ultrasound is published as part of the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity data collection, which can be found at the following link:
As at the end of December 2025, 21.4% of patients, or 132,475 patients, were waiting more than six weeks for a non-obstetric ultrasound.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 help tackle the increase in respiratory conditions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.
Through our community diagnostic centres we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day and seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives.
This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions. We are also taking action to reduce the causes of respiratory conditions, for instance by enabling a smoke free generation and cross Government action to improve air quality.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 diagnosis of respiratory conditions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.
Through our community diagnostic centres we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day and seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives.
This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions. We are also taking action to reduce the causes of respiratory conditions, for instance by enabling a smoke free generation and cross Government action to improve air quality.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of NHS ultrasound provision.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to bring down the size of the list and reduce waiting times, including for ultrasound.
The National Imaging Data Collection (NIDC) is an annual retrospective data collection for NHS imaging services within England, including the number of reported imaging assets, including ultrasound scanners. The latest collection was published in February 2026 and details that as of March 2025, there were 3,620 ultrasound assets in England, an increase of 152 compared to March 2024. The NIDC can be found at the following link:
The constitutional standard for patients waiting for a diagnostic test, including non-obstetric ultrasound, is that no more than 1% of patients will wait over six weeks from the point of referral. NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework formally commits the NHS to achieve this 1% constitutional standard by March 2029. By March 2027, the national performance target is that no more than 14% of patients are waiting over six weeks for a test, with every system required to deliver a minimum 3% performance improvement or ensure performance is at 20% or lower, whichever level of improvement is greater.
Six-week wait performance for non-obstetric ultrasound is published as part of the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity data collection, which can be found at the following link:
As at the end of December 2025, 21.4% of patients, or 132,475 patients, were waiting more than six weeks for a non-obstetric ultrasound.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 ensure pregnant women can access an emergency ultrasound scan in NHS hospitals within 24 hours of coming into A&E.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pregnant women presenting at accident and emergency departments should be assessed and will receive additional care, such as further investigations, which may include an ultrasound scan, where clinical assessment indicates a need.
Only in the context of the mother's presentation relating to concern around health or viability of the foetus would urgent scanning be required. This would be provided in an Early Pregnancy Unit for complications in the first trimester or maternity ultrasound services for complications in later pregnancy.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 6 February 2026 to Question 103857, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the number of publicly-funded (a) medical and (b) dental training places.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to training the staff we need, including doctors and dentists, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed services set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.