Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual budget for the NHS England Frontline Digitisation programme was (a) when that programme was established and (b) at the start of financial year (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 new-born children were give a digital NHS personal child health record in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Every baby is allocated a National Health Service number as soon as their birth is notified by the attending midwife. This is linked to the NHS number of the birth mother. Once registered at a general practice (GP) surgery, a baby will also have a GP record. This is the first digital health record which most babies will receive, and is linked to their existing NHS number.
The aim of the Digital Personal Child Health Record programme is not to create a new, standalone record, but to use existing infrastructure to facilitate better coordination between existing records. This will support families in accessing the information they need when they need it, and for professionals to offer more informed, joined-up care.
We have improved access to relevant content and information about maternity, early years, and Start for Life, via the NHS App, and made it easier for families to register a new baby digitally at a GP practice. Over 2000 practices have already adopted the solution, which consists of an online registration service and a new paper form. GPs will be contractually required to adopt and offer both formats, from October 2024.
We have also prepared the launch of a pilot programme which will allow anyone with parental responsibility to apply digitally for access to their child’s record, for any child up to 13 years old. This has now launched in 70 GPs in England, and will make it much easier for parents to manage a child's digital health record. For example, once rolled out across England, this will enable the parent or carer to view their baby’s digital GP record, book appointments, and request prescriptions, all via the NHS App.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she expects every child to have a personal child health record.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Every baby is allocated a National Health Service number as soon as their birth is notified by the attending midwife. This is linked to the NHS number of the birth mother. Once registered at a general practice (GP) surgery, a baby will also have a GP record. This is the first digital health record which most babies will receive, and is linked to their existing NHS number.
The aim of the Digital Personal Child Health Record programme is not to create a new, standalone record, but to use existing infrastructure to facilitate better coordination between existing records. This will support families in accessing the information they need when they need it, and for professionals to offer more informed, joined-up care.
We have improved access to relevant content and information about maternity, early years, and Start for Life, via the NHS App, and made it easier for families to register a new baby digitally at a GP practice. Over 2000 practices have already adopted the solution, which consists of an online registration service and a new paper form. GPs will be contractually required to adopt and offer both formats, from October 2024.
We have also prepared the launch of a pilot programme which will allow anyone with parental responsibility to apply digitally for access to their child’s record, for any child up to 13 years old. This has now launched in 70 GPs in England, and will make it much easier for parents to manage a child's digital health record. For example, once rolled out across England, this will enable the parent or carer to view their baby’s digital GP record, book appointments, and request prescriptions, all via the NHS App.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Integrated Care Boards delivered value-based activity of at least 104% of the 2019/20 baseline in 2022/23; and which Integrated Care Boards did not.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Nine integrated care boards (ICBs) delivered value-weighted activity (VWA) of at least 104% of the 2019/20 baseline in 2022/23, they are:
- NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB;
- NHS South East London ICB;
- NHS North East London ICB;
- NHS North Central London ICB;
- NHS North West London ICB;
- NHS Coventry and Warwickshire ICB;
- NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB;
- NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB; and
- NHS Kent and Medway ICB.
The following 10 ICBs delivered VWA of at least 100% of the 2019/20 baseline in 2022/23:
- NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB;
- NHS South West London ICB;
- NHS Lincolnshire ICB;
- NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB;
- NHS Northamptonshire ICB;
- NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB;
- NHS West Yorkshire ICB;
- NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB;
- NHS Devon ICB; and
- NHS Somerset ICB.
The remaining 23 ICBs did not deliver a VWA over 100% of the 2019/20 baseline in 2022/23.
Lower levels of elective activity were due to ongoing COVID-19 pressures and longer lengths of stay, as well as extended industrial action which started in December 2022. Providers were therefore allowed to retain elective funding to cover these costs. The department has put in place additional measures to monitor Elective Recovery Funding and related spending.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the announcement at page 34 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, published on 6 March 2024, on upgrading more than 100 MRI scanners with AI, what the average time taken for patients to receive relevant test results is; and if she will make an estimate of the average time for such results to be received when the new scanners are in use.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 2.20 of Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, if she will publish the modelling used to estimate the number of patients that will be impacted by the proposed upgrading of 100 MRI scanners.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraphs 7.16 and 7.17 of the Ministerial Code, on how many occasions have Ministers in her Department informed the Law Officers that they are the defendants in a libel action in (a) their personal capacity, (b) their official position and (c) both since 19 December 2019.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is unable to confirm this information as any advice provided by the Law Officers and the content thereof cannot be disclosed without their authority.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 GP practices used the GP online appointment booking feature to make appointments available (a) online and (b) through the NHS App in 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices (GPs) that have enabled the functionality of booking appointments digitally can offer this through a number of different Online Consultation Systems (OCS), including the NHS App. The Department does not hold data showing which system is used by each GP.
Of the 78% of GPs that have an operating OCS, 44.1% enabled their patients to book or cancel appointments within the last 12 months. In 2023, an estimated 2,160,594 GP appointments were booked through the NHS App.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP appointments were (a) available and (b) booked by patients (i) online and (ii) through the NHS App in 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices (GPs) that have enabled the functionality of booking appointments digitally can offer this through a number of different Online Consultation Systems (OCS), including the NHS App. The Department does not hold data showing which system is used by each GP.
Of the 78% of GPs that have an operating OCS, 44.1% enabled their patients to book or cancel appointments within the last 12 months. In 2023, an estimated 2,160,594 GP appointments were booked through the NHS App.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) her Department or (b) NHS England has issued instructions to Integrated Care Boards to freeze any uncommitted expenditure.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England asked integrated care systems in November 2023 to produce revised plans for the remainder of the financial year in order to address their financial challenges in 2023/24. The actions required were communicated in a letter, which is available at the following link: