Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to commence preparations for winter planning; and if he will make it his policy to prioritise funding for increased levels of care in the community in those plans.

Guidance on winter planning for health and care services is expected to be issued by the summer recess, building on NHS England’s 2024/25 operational planning guidance published in April 2024.

The Government has been clear that as part of the future reforms of the National Health Service, we must increasingly shift from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment, to one where the NHS focuses on prevention, and where more services are delivered in local communities.