Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the pressures on NHS Trusts in north London as of 22 November 2021; and what steps he plans to take to support front line staff to manage those pressures.

No such assessment has been made. NHS England and NHS Improvement have advised that the North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has received £6.8 million from a winter access fund for general practice, increasing appointment capacity and primary care capacity across the system including through hospital on-site presence in local emergency departments. The CCG has supported frontline staff by increasing capacity of existing wellbeing services, commissioning specialist services and circulating national psychological self-help resource links. Individual trusts and employers have also ensured that staff have access to a variety of support including through face to face sessions, virtual classrooms and online chat rooms.