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Written Question
Surgical Hubs
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that patients are supported in the community once they are discharged from surgical hubs.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In September 2023, NHS England published the Intermediate Care Framework for Rehabilitation, Reablement and Recovery following Hospital Discharge. This best practice guidance aims to improve patient experience and outcomes, as well as improving flow and discharge, freeing-up National Health Service hospital capacity for those who need it most.

Alongside the Intermediate Care Framework, NHS England published good practice guidance for Integrated Care Boards on increasing community rehabilitation capacity to support people leaving hospital and after they have received intermediate care. This includes therapy-led reablement.


Written Question
Surgical Hubs: Staff
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure surgical hubs are fully-staffed with (a) allied health professionals and (b) other staff.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Action is being taken to increase and support the existing NHS workforce capacity. The Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) surgical hub programme has published workforce guidance designed to assist providers and integrated care systems (ICSs) in planning the workforce requirements for new or expanded surgical hubs. The guidance outlines key enablers for successful workforce recruitment, retention and planning, as well as helpful operational tools such as e-rostering and staff passports. The guidance focuses on surgical and theatre teams as well as on the wider hub team including allied health professionals.


Written Question
NHS: Migrant Workers
Monday 4th September 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of new EU workers the NHS will need to meet its recruitment targets in each of the next five years.

Answered by Will Quince

Information on the planned recruitment of workers from the European Union over the next five years is not held centrally.

The recently published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan states that we will reduce reliance on international recruitment and agency staff. In 15 years’ time, we expect annually approximately 9-10.5% of new joiners to the workforce to be recruited from overseas, compared to nearly a quarter now.


Written Question
NHS: Migrant Workers
Monday 4th September 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the most important factors for the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS staff from EU countries.

Answered by Will Quince

No assessment has been made of the most important factors for the recruitment and retention of National Health Service staff from countries in the European Union.

The recently published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan states that we will reduce reliance on international recruitment and agency staff. In 15 years’ time, we expect annually approximately 9-10.5% of new joiners to the workforce to be recruited from overseas, compared to nearly a quarter now.


Written Question
HIV Infection: Drugs
Thursday 29th June 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plan to publish the pre-exposure prophylaxis action plan prior to Parliament’s 2023 summer recess.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group is currently working to develop the roadmap, based on the PrEP Access and Equity Task and Finish group’s recommendations, to help guide our efforts to improve equitable access to PrEP for key populations. We will consider our response to the recommendations in due course.


Written Question
Versus Arthritis
Monday 19th June 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to meet with representatives of Versus Arthritis.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Versus Arthritis representatives have been in regular contact with the Department, as part of our programme of engagement for the Major Conditions Strategy. Their representatives have been invited to events including a Secretary of State led roundtable. We will continue to work with a range of charities including Versus Arthritis as part of our engagement work on the strategy.


Written Question
Surgery: Standards
Thursday 25th May 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

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 surgeries were cancelled by speciality in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Will Quince

This data is not available in the format requested.


Written Question
Musculoskeletal Disorders: Waiting Lists
Monday 22nd May 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to implement the framework on reducing waiting times for musculoskeletal treatments set out in the report by NHS England entitled An improvement framework to reduce community musculoskeletal waits while delivering best outcomes and experience, published on 10 January 2023.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care systems are responsible for commissioning musculoskeletal services for their local populations.


Written Question
Musculoskeletal Disorders: Health Services
Wednesday 10th May 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to include the charity sector in the process of designing musculoskeletal health and wellbeing hubs.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In the Spring Budget, the Government set out a package of measures to tackle the leading health-related causes keeping people out of work, which includes scaling up musculoskeletal community hubs. As part of designing this pilot, we are working closely with NHS England, local authorities, the leisure sector and the charity sector.


Written Question
Rheumatoid Arthritis: Medical Treatments
Wednesday 10th May 2023

Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

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 access to advanced therapies for people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No specific steps are being taken. The National Health Service in England is legally required to make funding available for all treatments, including any advanced therapies, recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in technology appraisal and highly specialised technologies guidance, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.