Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the 10 Year Plan for the NHS.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10 Year Health Plan will make the NHS fit for the future with three key shifts: hospital to community, analogue to digital, and treatment to prevention.It will deliver the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change and will be published shortly.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 adequacy of GP appointment availability in South Northamptonshire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is determined to work with the National Health Service to fix the front door of our health service and ensure everyone can access general practitioner (GP) appointments, including in South Northamptonshire. In October 2024, we invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of 1,700 newly qualified GPs across England, helping to increase appointment availability and improve care for thousands of patients
We delivered an £889 million uplift in funding for 2025/26, with general practice now receiving a growing share of NHS resources. Additionally, the new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will upgrade more than a thousand GP surgeries across England, helping to improve productivity.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 NHS dental contract reforms on rural patient access.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in more rural and coastal areas. This is why we have launched the Golden Hello scheme which will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists. There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
We are continuing to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 reduce ambulance response times in South Northamptonshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures on the National Health Service and the impact this is having on ambulance response times, including in South Northamptonshire.
We are determined to turn things around, our 10-Year Health Plan will be published in summer 2025, setting out major NHS reforms to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.
The NHS Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, published on 6 June 2025, requires health systems to focus on those areas likely to have the biggest impact on urgent and emergency care services this year. The plan includes actions that will reduce category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes and reduce ambulance handovers to 45 minutes, helping to get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help reduce waiting times for autism assessments for children in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted the severe delays for accessing autism assessments and that demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessments for children in rural areas, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, considering how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs, including those in rural areas, and the NHS 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.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has commissioned research into the potential impact of toxic emissions from battery storage fires near residential areas on public health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not formally commissioned research into this topic. However, on 14 March 2025, the Environment Agency published the paper, Net zero: Environmental and social implications of energy storage technologies: summary, which is available at the following link:
On 3 June 2025, a paper was also placed in the House of Commons library which has details of Battery energy storage systems; this is available at the following link:
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7621/CBP-7621.pdf
Despite the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) not currently undertaking research per se on fires involving lithium ion batteries, UKHSA draws upon previously published Public Health England guidance on products of combustion, for example, Combustion products: a toxicological review, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/combustion-products-a-toxicological-review
In addition, practical guidance has been developed by the Waste Industry Safety and Health forum, Fire Risk and Lithium Batteries at Waste Transfer, Recycling and Recovery Operations, which is available at the following link:
https://www.wishforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/INFO-08.pdf
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 (a) prevent Integrated Care Boards from deprioritising ADHD assessments due to funding limits and (b) ensure that patients’ rights are upheld if funding limits are reached.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for planning service provision in their local area, including for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, considering how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.
Patients will continue to have the right to choose their provider as set out in legislation. The proposed NHS Payment Scheme does not and cannot change this.
The Government is committed to patients having the right to choose their provider when referred to consultant-led treatment, or to a mental health professional, for their first appointment as an outpatient. Further information on the choices available for patients can be found on the NHS Choice framework available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-choice-framework
The consultation on the proposed NHS Payment Scheme closed on 28 February 2025. The outcome of the consultation will be published shortly once all responses received have been fully considered and any decisions made about the final Payment Scheme.
NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, with the final report expected in summer 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 NHS England engages directly with ADHD (a) charities and (b) clinicians before finalising the NHS Payment Scheme structure.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is following standard procedure in its consultation on the NHS Payment Scheme. NHS England consults on changes to the payment scheme each year, as it is required to by law. While the legal requirement is just for NHS England to consult commissioners and providers, it does accept responses from other interested parties and members of the general public.
The statutory consultation period of 28 days ended on 28 February 2025. The outcome of the consultation will be published shortly once all responses received have been fully considered and any decisions made about the final Payment Scheme.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 potential impact of proposed changes to the NHS Payment Scheme on waiting times for ADHD assessments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As required by law, NHS England has assessed the impact of the proposed NHS Payment Scheme. This is available at the following link:
This impact assessment includes consideration of the impact on patient choice, as well as an assessment of the impact on patients, in line with NHS England’s public sector equality duty.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients will continue to benefit from the Right to Choose their provider at the point of referral. None of the proposed changes to the NHS Payment Scheme included in the consultation would change this.
Local integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for planning service provision in their local area, including for ADHD assessments. In doing so, ICBs should take account of waiting lists, considering how local funding can be deployed to best meet the needs of their local population.
The consultation on the proposed NHS Payment Scheme closed on 28 February 2025. The outcome of the consultation will be published shortly once all responses received have been fully considered and any decisions made about the final Payment Scheme.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
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 prevent regional variations in ADHD (a) assessment and (b) treatment times.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including assessments and treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
NHS England has established the ADHD taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support. The final report is expected in the summer, which will make recommendations about how to address the challenges faced by those affected by ADHD.
There is, at present, no single, established dataset that can be used to monitor waiting times for assessment for, or treatment of, ADHD either nationally or for individual organisations or geographies in England. Although the data requested is not held centrally, relevant information may be held locally by individual NHS trusts or commissioners.
In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop an ADHD data improvement plan to inform future service planning. NHS England has also conducted detailed work to understand the provider and commissioning landscape, capturing examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services. NHS England is using this information to support systems to tackle ADHD waiting lists and provide support to address people’s needs.