Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to (a) primary and (b) specialist healthcare services for disabled people whose activity is significantly limited in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local population, including disabled people.

Under the Equality Act 2010, health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. The Act places a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve access to premises, buildings and services.

To make it easier for disabled people to use health services, there is work underway in NHS England to ensure that staff in health settings know if they need to make reasonable adjustments. This includes rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, which enables the recording of key information about a patient, and their reasonable adjustment needs, in health records to ensure support can be tailored appropriately.

For primary care services in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency, NHS Mid and South Essex has launched the ‘MSE (Mid and South Essex) Expand programme’ to improve access to general practice services across the area. Up to £3 million of capital funding is available in 2025/26 to enhance general practice premises, with a focus on accessibility and increased capacity. The programme aims to deliver at least 26 additional treatment and consultation rooms, one per primary care network, enabling an estimated 990 extra appointments per day, or a 3.7% increase. This supports increasing care delivered closer to home and reducing health inequalities.

For specialist services, a new community diagnostic centre (CDC) is due to open in Thurrock in August 2025, the first of its kind in mid and south Essex. The CDC will improve access to key diagnostic services locally, reducing the need for hospital travel. The new centre is fully Disability Discrimination Act compliant and accessible for disabled people.