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, by how much and what proportion the (a) total, (b) substantive, (c) bank and (d) agency workforce will change at each NHS (i) integrated care system, (ii) trust and (iii) foundation trust in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local National Health Service providers are responsible for setting their establishments and planning their workforce. This is normally done in a dynamic way throughout the year, reflecting their demand and the types of services they start or cease providing.
The latest published NHS workforce statistics detail the composition of the NHS substantive and fixed term workforce, including by trust and integrated care system. The statistics are available at the following link:
NHS England asked all NHS providers, through the operational planning and contracting guidance for 2023/24, to ensure that their plans ensure that agency expenditure does not exceed 3.7% of their total pay bill. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/operational-planning-and-contracting/
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 Answer of 30 March 2023 to Question 159027 on NHS: Expenditure, how much NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and integrated care boards spent in aggregate on (a) mental health services, (b) acute health services, (c) social care services, (d) primary medical care, (e) other primary care services, (f) continuing healthcare, (g) specialised services, and (h) other main categories of spending in each financial year since 2015-16; and how much NHS England and integrated care boards plan to spend in aggregate in each of those areas in 2023-24.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is in attached table due to it’s size.
The £38 billion increase in Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) / Integrated Care Board (ICB) direct commissioning spend between 2019-20 and 2023-24 budget reflects the record settlement for health and social care funding confirmed at the 2021 Spending Review.
As 2022-23 accounts are not yet published, the figures for 2022-23 are the budget for that year. We will be able to provide 2022-23 final outturn once NHS England Annual Accounts are finalised.
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 estimate she has made of the proportion of pharmacists who supply prescription-only medicines without a GP appointment for (a) sinusitis, (b) sore throat, (c) earache, (d) infected insect bite, (e) impetigo, (f) shingles, and (g) uncomplicated urinary tract infections.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No data is collected on prescription-only medicines supplied privately for these conditions by community pharmacists. There are a small number of local National Health Service schemes that allow for the supply by community pharmacists of prescription-only medicines for some of these conditions, but data is not collected centrally. From early next year, the Pharmacy First service, enabling all community pharmacists to supply prescription-only medicines for the seven common conditions listed, will be nationally commissioned by the NHS. Community pharmacies have been able to register to deliver the service since 1 December and more than half have already done so.
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 ICBs have introduced self-referral routes for (a) fall services, (b) musculoskeletal services, (c) audiology for older people, (d) weight management services, (e) community podiatry and (f) wheelchair and community equipment as of 12 November 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care asked systems to expand self-referral in seven community-based services from September 2023. By that time, integrated care boards (ICBs) reported over 600 services offering self-referral routes which is a 31% increase from August 2023, with expansion taking place across all seven service areas.
We are continuing to support ICBs expand further via a range of activities including communities of practice to share experiences and learning across the country.
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 practices have signed up to the general practice improvement programme as of 12 December 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Practice Improvement Programme (GPIP) was introduced as part of the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, published in May 2023. It provides tailored support for practices and primary care networks (PCNs) to make changes and improvements to how they work. It focuses on helping general practice teams to get patients to the right care from the right person at the right time; improving equity, safety and continuity; and reducing pressure on the workforce.
As of 7 December, more than 1,200 practices have benefited from the programme. Registration is currently open for a further two cohorts of support for practices.
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 (a) expenditure limit and (b) actual spend was for agency staffing spend for each NHS (i) integrated care system, (ii) trust and (iii) foundation in the 2022-23 financial year; and what the expenditure limit will be for each organisation in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not set limits by trusts, but rather by systems. The attached table lists the system agency expenditure limits for 2022/23 and 2023/24.
NHS England re-established agency expenditure limits for systems in September 2022. The limits set for 2022/23 require at least a 10% reduction compared to the previous year in line with provider plans. Limits in 2023/24 have been set with the ambition of reducing total agency expenditure by trusts (in aggregate) to 3.7% of the total estimated National Health Service pay bill.
Agency spend data in 2022/23 is not yet available. Provider financial accounts for 2022/23, including data on agency spending, is currently being audited and will be published in due course.
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 (a) total, (b) substantive, (c) bank and (d) agency workforce was at each NHS (i) integrated care system, (ii) trust and (iii) foundation trust in (A) April and (B) September 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Substantive staff data collected is published by NHS England, with the most recent data available being from July 2023. The data is available at the following link:
Headcount data is available by trust and integrated care system. Bank and agency headcount data is unvalidated and is not of a statistical quality for publication.
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 estimate she has made of the number and proportion of NHS trusts with Electronic Patient Records (EPRs); and if she will publish a list of trust without EPRs.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
189 National Health Service trusts, or 90%, have successfully implemented an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system, meeting the target set by the Government in the 2023 mandate for NHS England. Our ambition remains that complete coverage of all NHS trusts will be achieved by March 2026.
At present, there are 21, or 10%, NHS secondary care trusts in England that do not have an EPR system. These trusts are currently in different phases of adoption. There are no immediate plans to publish a list of trusts without EPRs while procurement is still live.
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 progress has been made on rolling out a national approach to costing and contracting for commercial clinical research undertaken in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s National Contract Value Review (NCVR) provides costing and contracting for commercial clinical research undertaken in the National Health Service. Since its introduction in October 2022, over 600 studies have had a national review completed. The average time from initial costing submission to the date of the first participant consenting to take part in the study has reduced by 110 days or 36%. Stage 2 of NCVR was implemented in October 2023 and eliminates local negotiation at the point of costing and contracting and will further improve these timelines.
In addition, NHS England and the Devolved Administrations are committed to extending NCVR to include the setup of Early Phase (phase I and IIa) and Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products (ATMPs) studies. Work has begun to introduce NCVR in a limited number of ATMP studies to test and refine the process.
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 diagnostic tests have been carried out by the NHS (a) in total, (b) six weeks and (c) ten weeks after a referral in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Diagnostic test activity across the 15 test types recorded by NHS England was 25.6 million in the 12 months to September 2023. The data requested for diagnostic tests at six weeks and ten weeks after a referral is not collected by NHS England in the format requests.
The NHS’ Delivery Plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care aims for 95% of patients needing a diagnostic test to receive it within six weeks by March 2025. NHS England aims to increase diagnostic activity to 120% of pre-pandemic levels by March 2025 to support this.
In the 2021 spending review £2.3 billion was awarded to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. The remainder of the funding will increase capacity for imaging, endoscopy as well as lung and mammography screening, and improve digital diagnostics.