Every parliamentary written question tabled by Callum Anderson this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1–20 of 84 · Department of Health and Social Care
With reference to his Department's press release entitled Key target hit with 8,500 extra mental health workers in the NHS, published on 30 April 2026, how many of the additional mental health workers recruited since the end of June 2024 were (a) psychiatrists, (b) nurses, (c) therapists and (d) support staff.
Awaiting answer.
What assessment he has made of trends in the level of waiting times for NHS Talking Therapies in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency since July 2024.
Awaiting answer.
What steps his Department is taking to support the recruitment, training and retention of Parkinson’s nurse specialists.
The Government recognises the vital role that Parkinson’s nurse specialists play in supporting people with Parkinson’s disease, providing expert clinical input, coordinating care, and helping patients and families manage a complex, progressive condition.Responsibility for workforce planning, including the recruitment, training, and retention of specialist nurses, such as Parkinson’s nurse specialists, lies with the National Health Service. Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing local population need and ensuring that appropriate specialist services, including neurology and nursing support, are in place to meet that need.At a national level, the NHS is supporting service improvement and workforce development for Parkinson’s and other neurological conditions through a range of programmes. This includes the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit. Both aim to reduce unwarranted variation, promote best practice, and support more consistent access to specialist expertise across England.The forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will support the recruitment and retention of specialist nurses by setting out a long‑term approach to growing, training, and supporting the NHS workforce, with a focus on ensuring that staff have the right skills, career development opportunities, and working conditions to deliver high‑quality care. By improving education and training pathways, promoting advanced and specialist roles, and supporting flexible and multidisciplinary ways of working, the plan will help the NHS build a sustainable workforce able to meet future patient needs.
What assessment he has made of workforce capacity in women’s health services serving the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
NHS England publishes monthly information on the composition of the workforce employed by National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards in England. This includes information on the workforce employed by individual bodies and for high-level staffing groups. The information can be found at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statisticsNo specific central assessment has been made of the workforce capacity of women’s health services in the region, with decisions on the provision of local services being managed by individual NHS service provider and commissioners.
What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of data collection on women’s health outcomes in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
A women's health data dashboard is available on the NHS Futures website and is available to anyone working within health and care sector who requires insight into women's health.The dashboard is intended to provide national and local insight into the key aims of women's health aligned with the priorities of NHS England’s Women’s Health Programme and highlight potential unmet need, unwarranted variation, and health inequalities.The Government will make the data dashboard publicly available with the next year, as set out in the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy published on 15 April 2026.
What steps his Department is taking to improve access to women’s health services in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency under the renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England.
The Renewed Women’s Health Strategy was published on 15 April 2026 and women’s access to care is a key theme. We will support integrated care board to introduce a single point of access for all non-urgent referrals to gynaecology and women's health services to speed up access to better treatmentWe will redesign clinical pathways for the most common pathways including heavy periods, menopause, and uro-gynaecology. This will standardise care pathways and remove unnecessary procedural delays.We will fund a specialist centre in each region for group-based approaches to high volume low complexity women’s health pathways. This will improve productivity and empower women in common clinical areas, helping to reduce waiting lists and supporting self-management.We will accelerate the deployment and spread of innovations that benefit women’s health, launching a FemTech healthcare challenge within two years with a pot of £1.5 million.Funded by £5.25 million, we will expand access to Musculoskeletal (MSK) Hubs in the community by leveraging the leisure and fitness workforce to deliver evidence-based physical activity for people with MSK conditions.Buckinghamshire delivers specialist gynaecology care to women through both community and secondary care, or hospital, services, with community services delivered from general practices across the county, including in Aylesbury. To further improve access to women's health services, the Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust and FedBucks are working together to expand community services, increasing clinic sites and aligning to neighbourhoods including North Bucks, to ensure more women can be seen for specialist gynaecology care more quickly and closer to home in the community service, thereby increasing capacity within the secondary care service to support waiting list reductions.
What steps he is taking to help improve access to menopause support and services in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we reform the National Health Service, and we acknowledge the impact that women suffering from symptoms of menopause has on their lives, relationships, and participation in the workplace.In Buckinghamshire, a specialist menopause service was launched in August 2025 and was accessible to all Buckinghamshire women via referral from their general practitioner (GP), delivered by telephone as standard to ensure this holistic and patient centred specialist menopause care is delivered close to the patient, in their own home, with face to face provision available where required within GPs across the county.As announced in October 2025, we will be asking local authorities across the country to include menopause in the NHS Health Check later this year. This will support eligible women across England to access high quality information on the menopause, including advice on managing symptoms, where to seek support, and a diagnosis.Menopause and menstrual health conditions will be among the priorities for the NHS’s revolutionary new online hospital when it launches next year, providing faster access to specialist care.On the 15 April 2026, we published the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy which identifies menopause as a core women’s health priority, recognising its impact on women’s health, wellbeing, work, and quality of life.The strategy shifts menopause care into primary and community settings, including neighbourhood women’s health services and women’s health hubs, making care easier to access and closer to home.The strategy commits to each region having a specialist centre to support group based approaches to high volume low complexity women’s health pathways such as menopause services, improving access, peer support, and consistency, with early rollout focused on areas of highest need.The strategy recognises that menopause symptoms are often under recognised and poorly understood, and commits to improving information so women know their symptoms can be effectively managed, including through evidence-based treatments.
What steps his Department is taking to improve early diagnosis of endometriosis for patients in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by women with endometriosis and the impact it has on their lives, their relationships, and their participation in education and the workforce. We are committed to improving the diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care for endometriosis. It is unacceptable that women can wait so long for an endometriosis diagnosis and we are taking action to address this.Nationally, we are establishing an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which will give people across the country, on certain pathways, the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. It will connect patients with clinicians across the country through secure, online appointments accessed through the NHS App.Menstrual problems, which may be a sign of endometriosis, will be among the first nine conditions available for referral to NHS Online from 2027. We’ve chosen some of the conditions with the longest waits and where online consultation works best. NHS Online will help to reduce patient waiting times, delivering the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years, four times more than an average trust, while enhancing patient choice and control over their care. This will allow women with menstrual problems which may be a sign of endometriosis across the country to reach a diagnosis and explore treatment options sooner.Buckinghamshire delivers specialist gynaecology care to women through both community and secondary care, or hospital, services, with community services delivered from general practices across the county, including in Aylesbury. To further improve access to women's health services, the Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust is working to expand community services, increasing clinic sites, and aligning to neighbourhoods including North Bucks, to ensure more women can be seen for specialist gynaecology care more quickly and closer to home in the community service, thereby increasing capacity within the secondary care service to support waiting list reductions.
What steps he is taking to reduce gynaecology waiting times for patients in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, including for gynaecology.Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the reforms we are making to improve gynaecology waiting times across England. This includes innovative models of care that offer care closer to home and in the community, piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding, and increasing the relative funding available to incentivise providers to take on more gynaecology procedures.Wider elective reforms will help cut waiting times for gynaecology services in Buckinghamshire and across England. These include more consistent clinical triage, tackling missed appointments, delivering new and expanded surgical hubs, and scaling up remote monitoring and use of patient-initiated follow ups.We also provided new funding for general practice to expand Advice and Guidance (A&G) services. A&G is designed to help general practitioners and hospital specialists to work together and make the best treatment plans for patients, while reducing unnecessary referrals to long waiting lists. This enables patients to be seen more quickly, closer to home, benefiting from earlier specialist input. We are also introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online. From 2027, people on certain pathways, including severe menopause symptoms and menstrual problems that may be a sign of endometriosis or fibroids, will have the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. NHS Online will help to reduce patient waiting times, delivering the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years.
What assessment his Department has made regarding the potential merits of adopting a new National Dementia Care Pathway which includes i) end of life care, and ii) clear minimum service standards.
The Government wants a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia and frailty will benefit from improved care planning and better services. We will deliver the first ever Frailty and Dementia MSF to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. The Frailty and Dementia MSF will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and frailty. It will support this by setting national standards for dementia and frailty care and redirecting NHS and adult social care priorities to provide the best possible care and support. In developing the Frailty and Dementia MSF, we are engaging with a wide group of partners to understand what should be included to ensure the best outcomes for people living with dementia.
What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of recognising dementia as a complex and palliative condition in the Modern Service Framework for Palliative and End of life care.
Almost one million people in the United Kingdom are living with dementia, and that figure is expected to rise. Each of those people, alongside their friends, families, and unpaid carers, have their own unique and important story of living with dementia.The Government wants a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. Everyone with dementia should have meaningful care following their diagnosis. This includes information on local services and access to relevant advice and support on what happens next.Our health and adult social care system has struggled to support those with complex needs, including those with dementia. Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia and frailty will benefit from improved care planning and better services.We will deliver the first ever Modern Service framework (MSF) for Frailty and Dementia, complemented by a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care MSF. Together these MSFs will drive rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.The Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life, including those living with dementia, and enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.The MSF for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and frailty. It will support this by setting national standards for dementia and frailty care, and redirecting NHS and adult social care priorities to provide the best possible care and support. It will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, which is underway and will report this year.We intend to continue to engage with a range of partners over the coming months to enable us to build a framework which is both ambitious and practical, to ensure we can improve system performance for people with dementia both now and in the future.
What estimate he has made of the funding required to meet demand for NHS dental services in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in the next 12 months.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry and receive an annual allocation of funding to secure services to meet the needs of their population. For the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency, this is the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB. Further information on ICB allocation funding for 2026/27 to 2027/28 is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/allocations/In 2024/25, we invested around £3.7 billion on primary care dentistry. We want to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.We have reduced the National Health Service dentistry underspend from £392 million in 2023/24 to £36 million in 2024/25.
How many NHS dental appointments were provided in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in the last three 12-month periods.
The table below shows the available data for the number of National Health Service dental treatments delivered each year between 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. Data for dentistry is measured in courses of treatment, not appointments. One course of treatment can be more than one appointment.Financial yearNumber of NHS dental treatments delivered in the first seven months of the financial year.2025/26377,291 (partial year)Source: NHS Business Services Authority monthly statistics, available at the following link: https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/dental-activity-data-england-july-2023-to-october-2025Financial yearNumber of NHS dental treatments delivered2024/25594,6672023/24557,798Source: NHS Business Services Authority, available at the following link: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202425 The data for 2023/24 and 2024/25 are not directly comparable with the 2025/26 data due to the 2025/26 data being provisional. Final data for 2025/26 will be published in August 2026. Furthermore, the 2025/26 data covers seven months of activity, but the 2023/24 and 2024/25 data covers the full 12-month period.
What steps his Department are taking to ensure the effectiveness of cancer screening programmes in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
NHS England Screening and Immunisation Teams, including a dedicated team covering Thames Valley, work closely with providers and local partners to ensure cancer screening programmes are delivered in line with national standards for quality, safety and effectiveness.At a local level, the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (ICB) works in partnership with NHS England, primary care, providers and the Thames Valley Cancer Alliance to support the delivery and uptake of cancer screening programmes across Buckingham and Bletchley. This includes ongoing monitoring of screening coverage and performance at place and practice level, identifying variation, and supporting action where uptake or performance falls below national standards.At a national level, we recently announced that the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England is lowering the faecal immunochemical test threshold from 120 micrograms of blood per gram of faeces to 80 micrograms of blood per gram of faeces. It is estimated that this change will detect approximately 600 additional bowel cancers early each year in England, approximately an 11% increase, and find 2,000 more people with high-risk polyps in their bowel, allowing doctors to remove them before they ever turn into cancers.Additionally, in early 2026, the NHS Cervical Screening Programme will be offering a self-testing kit to under-screened women, starting with those who are the most overdue for screening. This will help tackle deeply entrenched barriers that keep some away from screening.These national-level changes will benefit people across England, including those living in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
What steps his Department is taking to improve diagnostic services for cancer in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Improving cancer services, including diagnostic capacity and treatment infrastructure, is a priority for the Government.The Government is committed to meeting all three National Health Service cancer waiting time standards across England. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to meet demand through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. As of December 2025, community diagnostic centres are now delivering additional tests and checks on 170 sites across the country.The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further details as to how patients across England, including in Buckingham and Bletchley, will benefit from improved diagnostic services and cancer care infrastructure.Funding for cancer pathways is multi-layered. The integrated care board uses the core Government allocation to commission services from providers, including cancer-related activity. Specialised commissioning directs funding towards specialist areas of healthcare, such as paediatric oncology and chemotherapy.The East of England Cancer Alliance has been allocated approximately £16 million of revenue funds for 2026/27 which will support targeted programmes of work. The process to allocate these funds is currently live. System priorities have been identified and funding requests have been submitted for consideration.
What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of staffing levels for oncology services in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Residents of Bletchley who access oncology care would most likely attend Milton Keynes University Hospital which offers on-site chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the latter led by the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Workforce reviews are currently under way to ensure that this trust can accommodate increasing demand for services and to ensure that residents can access new treatments when they become available.The National Cancer Plan, which will be published shortly, will highlight how we will reform our workforce to improve cancer patient outcomes, including for those patients in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. We will ensure that we have the right staff, in the right places, with the right skills, so patients can access quality care when and where they need it.
What funding has been allocated to cancer care infrastructure in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in the next three financial years.
Improving cancer services, including diagnostic capacity and treatment infrastructure, is a priority for the Government.The Government is committed to meeting all three National Health Service cancer waiting time standards across England. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to meet demand through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. As of December 2025, community diagnostic centres are now delivering additional tests and checks on 170 sites across the country.The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further details as to how patients across England, including in Buckingham and Bletchley, will benefit from improved diagnostic services and cancer care infrastructure.Funding for cancer pathways is multi-layered. The integrated care board uses the core Government allocation to commission services from providers, including cancer-related activity. Specialised commissioning directs funding towards specialist areas of healthcare, such as paediatric oncology and chemotherapy.The East of England Cancer Alliance has been allocated approximately £16 million of revenue funds for 2026/27 which will support targeted programmes of work. The process to allocate these funds is currently live. System priorities have been identified and funding requests have been submitted for consideration.
What assessment his Department has been made of the adequacy of the availability of clinical trials for cancer patients in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
No specific assessment has been made. The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments, wherever they live.The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients across the country. It will ensure that more patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and to clinical trials.The Department funds the National Institute of Health and Care Research’s (NIHR) infrastructure to support the delivery and availability of clinical trials across all aspects of human health, including cancer. The South Central Regional Research Delivery Network operates in all National Health Service trusts that span the Buckingham and Bletchley area, giving researchers and delivery teams the practical support they need locally so that clinical trials can take place and more people can take part.The NIHR provides an online service called 'Be Part of Research' which promotes participation in health and care research, by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest.
What support his Department provides to public health teams operating in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency to increase men’s engagement with preventative health services.
On 19 November, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the first ever Men’s Health Strategy for England which aims to improve the health of all men and boys in England, including those in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency. The strategy includes tangible actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community and family networks and address societal norms. It also considers how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, which include mental health and suicide prevention, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease.We recognise that many of the issues affecting men cannot be solved by the Government alone. The strategy sets out how other sectors, such as the National Health Service, local government, employers, charities, research funders and communities, can contribute to shared outcomes and highlights that improving men’s health will depend on how national priorities are translated into local delivery.The Department support Upper Tier Local Authorities, including Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes, with the Public Health Grant. This is ringfenced funding given to local government to improve the health of their local populations and to reduce inequalities. We recently announced details of a three-year funding settlement for local government, including the Public Health Grant.
What guidance his Department issues to GP practices in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency on early detection of prostate cancer.
We are committed to ensuring that general practitioners (GPs) have the right training and systems to identify cancer symptoms. Use of specific clinical decision support tools are agreed at a local level. This will benefit cancer patients across England, including in Buckingham and Bletchley. GPs are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.The Department is taking cancer detection seriously, including in GPs. The Government has recently launched Jess’s Rule, a patient safety initiative that introduces clinical guidance to support clinicians in taking a “fresh eyes” approach in GPs. It asks GPs to think again if, after three appointments, they have been unable to diagnose a patient, or their symptoms have escalated. This will benefit all cancer patients, including prostate cancer patients.