Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many overseas nurses were working in (a) the NHS and (b) each NHS England Hospital Trust in each year since 2015; and whether he has made an estimate of the cost of (a) recruitment and (b) visas for overseas nurses in year since 2015.
Answered by Will Quince
Tables showing the number of headcount and full-time equivalent nurses and health visitors with a non-United Kingdom nationality in National Health Service hospital trusts and core organisations in August of each year since 2015 is attached.
No specific assessment of the cost of recruitment for overseas nurses or visas has been made. However, in October 2021, NHS England commissioned a review by the Nuffield Trust, which estimated the cost of recruiting a nurse from overseas at approximately £10,000 to £12,000. Since August 2020, nurses have paid reduced visa fees through the Health and Care Visa.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to (a) move towards a preventative model of care for dentistry and (b) bring forward a public awareness campaign on oral health.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS England will engage with stakeholder representatives from dental professional groups on potential solutions to the challenges facing National Health Service dentistry and how these could be implemented. This engagement will be focused on improving urgent care access; supporting access for new patients; re-orientating the system towards prevention; and dental team recruitment and retention and assisting dental teams to feel part of the NHS.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has published ‘Delivering Better Oral Health - an evidence-based toolkit for prevention’ to support dental teams to deliver preventive advice and treatment for patients, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 increase the number of dentists from overseas to help fill gaps in dentistry in the UK.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has worked with the General Dental Council (GDC) to develop and consult on legislative proposals to allow GDC greater flexibility to amend its existing international registration processes and explore alternative pathways. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Department aims to introduce the legislative changes in early 2023. As the independent regulator, the GDC will determine how these flexibilities can be used.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 potential merits of having representatives of dentists on integrated care boards.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Health and Care Act 2022 sets out minimum membership requirement of integrated care boards (ICBs), which includes representatives of National Health Service trusts, primary care and local authorities. However, by local agreement ICBs can supplement the legislative minimum requirements in order to address local needs.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 increase the number of dentists from the EU coming to the UK to help fill dentist vacancies.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has worked with the General Dental Council (GDC) to develop and consult on legislative proposals to allow GDC greater flexibility to amend its existing international registration processes and explore alternative pathways. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Department aims to introduce the legislative changes in early 2023. As the independent regulator, the GDC will determine how these flexibilities can be used.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 publish on a monthly basis the number of patients waiting 12 hours or more from their time of arrival at hospital.
Answered by Will Quince
Data on the proportion of patients spending more than 12 hours in an emergency department is available for operational use by trusts to understand patient flows through emergency departments. The objectives in the ‘2022/23 priorities and operational planning guidance’ include reducing 12 hour waiting times and remains in place. The data is published annually by NHS Digital and NHS England is considering arrangements for further publication of this data.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospitals have been retro-fitted to improve energy efficiency since 2019.
Answered by Will Quince
This information is not held in the format requested. However, since 2019 all National Health Service trusts have produced three-year plans to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy usage to support the commitment to achieve net zero for NHS energy emissions by 2040. In 2020/21, 123 trusts were undertaking or had completed at least one building energy efficiency scheme.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of electric heaters bought for use in hospitals since 2019.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific estimate has been made as this information is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 review the current policy and delivery method of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department continually monitors the policy and delivery of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the progress of the rollout of booster jabs for covid-19.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
As of 5 October 2022, over 33 million people in England had received a third primary dose or first booster dose. The deployment of the autumn booster vaccination campaign commenced on 5 September 2022. As of 11 October 2022, NHS England had delivered over 6.9 million autumn booster doses. As of 5 October, the UK Health Security Agency reports that over 38% of the total population in England aged 65 years old and over had received an autumn booster dose.