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Written Question
Doctors and Nurses: Bournemouth
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses there were in Bournemouth in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2024.

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

The Department does not hold information on National Health Service staff by where they reside. Data on staff working across hospital and community health services is collected and reported based on the hospital trust that employs staff. Therefore, data is presented for the relevant local hospital trust.

The acute hospital trust that covered Bournemouth in 2010 was The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In 2020 there was a merger with Poole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and now Bournemouth is covered by the newly formed University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. The Department does not hold data on NHS staffing levels for 2024, however the latest data published by NHS England is for November 2023, and is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

Direct comparisons of the change in staffing over time are difficult to make, due to the impact of the merger in 2020. However, the following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors and nurses working at The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in November 2010, and the number of FTE doctors and nurses working at University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust in November 2023:

Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust

Doctors

Nurses (including health visitors)

Doctors

Nurses (including health visitors)

November 2010

395

1,001

-

-

November 2023

-

-

1,110

2,274


Written Question
Royal Bournemouth Hospital: Finance
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much investment has been made to improve Bournemouth hospital in the last 10 years.

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

The information requested is not held centrally. University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bournemouth Hospital, receives funding from national programmes and operational capital. From our national programmes, the trust received the following amounts since 2020:

  • £12.9 million from the community diagnostic centres’ Diagnostics fund for development of a community diagnostic centre, providing vital testing to local residents closer to home for the 2021/22 to 2023/24 period;

  • £102,000 from our Mental Health Crisis Fund to improve mental health urgent and emergency care facilities in 2022/23;

  • Over £9 million from our Elective Recovery Targeted Investment Fund in 2021/22 for estate works and digital initiatives;

  • £4.3 million in 2020/21 from our £450 million accident and emergency upgrades programme;

  • £2.8 million in 2020/21 as part of our £600 million Critical Infrastructure Risk funding to address backlog maintenance across its estate; and

  • Over £28 million from the New Hospital programme, for up to 2022/23, in scheme development funding for both their hospital schemes, which includes early works to prepare the sites ahead of main construction commencing.

The trust has also been allocated £147.3 million of NHS Upgrades Programme funding for the reconfiguration of the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Poole Hospital, to a major planned site and major emergency site, with the project currently underway and construction ongoing.

In addition to the above funding, the Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB), of which the trust is a partner member, has been allocated £61 million in operational capital funding in 2023/24, totalling over £200 million during this spending review period, 2022/23 to 2024/25. This amount is prioritised by the ICB according to local needs.


Written Question
Bournemouth
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) she and (b) other Ministers plan to visit Bournemouth in the next six months.

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

Ministers regularly consider visits to health and care settings across the country. Any plans to visit specific locations will be notified to hon. Members in advance.


Written Question
Dentistry: Bournemouth East
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of number of NHS dentists in Bournemouth East constituency.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In 2022/23, 349 dentists in the Dorset Integrated Care Board performed National Health Service work. This is equivalent to 44.9 dentists per 100,000 population. The Dentistry Recovery Plan will make dental services faster, simpler and fairer for patients and will fund around 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment.

The plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, including the introduction of a New Patient Payment Premium of up to £50 for each new patient. This is on top of the funding dental practices already receive for delivering that care. We will further incentivise dentists to do more NHS work by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28. As part of the Dentistry Recovery Plan, we will launch a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work.


Written Question
Fluoride: Drinking Water
Monday 29th January 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether fluoride is added to the water supply anywhere in the UK.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral found in varying amounts in soil, food, and drink, including drinking water supplies. Currently approximately six million people in England live in areas with a water fluoridation scheme where the fluoride concentration has been adjusted, in line with legal limits, to help reduce tooth decay. Further details on the areas involved are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-care-bill-factsheets/health-and-care-bill-water-fluoridation.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Veterans
Tuesday 16th January 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve mental health support for veterans and their families.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

All members of the Armed Forces Community, including veterans’ families, can access mainstream National Health Service mental health support services. The Government is investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year, as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, in expanding and transforming NHS mental health services by 2023-24. This will allow an extra 2 million people to get the NHS-funded mental health support they need.

In England, NHS England commission Op COURAGE which is the veterans’ mental health and wellbeing service providing a comprehensive mental health treatment pathway to respond to veterans’ needs. Access to Op COURAGE is via referral or by direct contact from veterans. A campaign to raise awareness of Op COURAGE launched on 9 January 2024.

Additionally, the government is providing an additional £10 million to support the Veterans’ Places, People and Pathways Programme to increase support to a significant community of vulnerable veterans throughout the UK and enable it to become self-sustaining.

NHS England has also commissioned eight Op COMMUNITY pilots within NHS Integrated Care Systems to provide a single point of contact based in local Integrated Care Systems for Armed Forces community families and help support those who have recently moved into the area and need to transfer their care. This includes support to access mental health services.


Written Question
NHS: Agency Workers
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to encourage NHS bank staff to remain employed by the NHS in the context of higher rates of pay available through external agencies.

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

Most temporary staffing shifts are filled by bank workers with latest available figures for 2022/23 being 76%. Trusts are encouraged to fill workforce gaps through bank workers, including expanding the provision of in-house staff banks, and trusts are working together to improve transparency of pay rates across both bank and agency staff which is helping to reduce costs.

Bank rates of pay are set locally to align with agenda for change pay scales. The agency price cap was set to be broadly comparable with the cost of substantive and bank staff, in terms of cost to the National Health Service. While there are instances of agency workers receiving higher pay levels than the price cap, NHS England is supporting trusts to reduce off-framework agency provision and to improve price cap compliance. Trusts are working to improve flexible working opportunities for staff to encourage them towards substantive NHS contracts.


Written Question
NHS: Agency Workers
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to make consolidated payments to members of the NHS Professionals National Bank.

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

Funding for the 2023-24 consolidated pay uplift for Agenda for Change staff was provided to National Health Service providers through the usual routes.

NHS Professionals Ltd (NHSP), a limited company wholly owned by the Department, is a supplier of clinical and non-clinical temporary workforce to client NHS trusts. NHSP contracts on an arm’s length basis with NHS trusts to provide flexible workforce solutions including managed bank services and its National Bank offering.

NHSP requires approval from its client trusts to implement any pay change for all bank members, including annual consolidated increases. NHSP administers an annual process in line with the NHS Agenda for Change consolidated pay increase process; however, each client trust retains discretion over its implementation. Some NHSP bank members have distinct pay arrangements that do not fall within the regular Agenda for Change framework and again individual trusts determine the pay and conditions for those members of staff.

NHSP has provided guidance to its bank workers on eligibility for the consolidated 2023-24 award.


Written Question
NHS: Agency Workers
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making consolidated payments to members of the NHS Professionals National Bank.

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

Funding for the 2023-24 consolidated pay uplift for Agenda for Change staff was provided to National Health Service providers through the usual routes.

NHS Professionals Ltd (NHSP), a limited company wholly owned by the Department, is a supplier of clinical and non-clinical temporary workforce to client NHS trusts. NHSP contracts on an arm’s length basis with NHS trusts to provide flexible workforce solutions including managed bank services and its National Bank offering.

NHSP requires approval from its client trusts to implement any pay change for all bank members, including annual consolidated increases. NHSP administers an annual process in line with the NHS Agenda for Change consolidated pay increase process; however, each client trust retains discretion over its implementation. Some NHSP bank members have distinct pay arrangements that do not fall within the regular Agenda for Change framework and again individual trusts determine the pay and conditions for those members of staff.

NHSP has provided guidance to its bank workers on eligibility for the consolidated 2023-24 award.


Written Question
Health Services: Weather
Thursday 21st December 2023

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to prepare for winter 2023-24 in (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.

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

National Health Service winter planning started earlier this year than in previous years. The urgent and emergency care recovery plan was published in January 2023 which included £1 billion of dedicated funding to support increased capacity. NHS England and the Department have overseen implementation of the urgent and emergency care recovery plan across the country since its publication, including in the South West.

In July 2023, NHS England wrote to integrated care boards, trusts and primary care networks to set out a national approach to 2023/24 winter planning and the key steps to be taken across all parts of the system to meet the challenges expected from winter pressures.

The South West is also receiving £2,988,128 from the £40 million local authority Urgent and Emergency Care support fund. This fund is in addition to the £600 million Adult Social Care Discharge fund which was allocated in April – and is specifically targeted to support areas with greater challenges in urgent and emergency care, to help local authorities further boost social care provision to support admissions avoidance and hospital discharge this winter.