Written questions by Blundell.

What steps his Department is taking to provide up-to-date clinical guidance on the age groups that should receive the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) ensures commissioners, providers, and relevant healthcare professionals have access to the necessary resources to communicate accurate information, including age groups, about the routine childhood immunisation programme. UKHSA writes the national clinical guideline ‘immunisation against infectious disease’, known as ‘The Green Book’, which includes up-to-date clinical guidance on eligibility for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in the relevant chapters. The Green Book is available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e021b9140f0b6665e80187b/Greenbook_chapter_21_Measles_December_2019.pdfFrom 1 January 2026, general practitioners will offer eligible children a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) as part of the routine infant vaccination schedule.The eligibility criteria for children will be set out in clinical guidance, which will be published in due course, covering which birth cohorts will get the MMRV vaccine and when, to ensure the most effective protection for children.

What steps he is taking to counter disinformation pertaining to the MMRV vaccine.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Fylde on 5 September 2025 to Question 73639.

What steps he is taking to help increase uptake of the MMRV vaccine among children.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Fylde on 8 September 2025 to Question 73633.

What steps his Department is taking to implement a single patient record system across the NHS.

The Health and Social Care Act 2022, the Data (Use and Access) Act, and the Health and Social Care Information Standards (Procedure) Regulations 2025 introduced a new legislative framework for mandatory information standards for public and private health and adult social care providers and IT suppliers in the health and care system. This will provide the basis for ensuring interoperability between IT systems.The Government's 10-Year Health Plan commits to delivering a single patient record (SPR). The SPR will give staff and providers access to the information they need to provide health and care and will end the need for patients to repeat their medical history when interacting with different health and care providers. It will provide a comprehensive patient record, bringing together information from all of a patient’s medical records into one place.We have been engaging with the public to help shape our plans, including what information they would like to see included in an SPR, and we will continue to talk to the public and to health and care professionals as we design the SPR to ensure their needs are reflected. The SPR will begin to go live from 2028.

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure the timely sharing of patient information between hospital trusts with different IT systems.

The Health and Social Care Act 2022, the Data (Use and Access) Act, and the Health and Social Care Information Standards (Procedure) Regulations 2025 introduced a new legislative framework for mandatory information standards for public and private health and adult social care providers and IT suppliers in the health and care system. This will provide the basis for ensuring interoperability between IT systems.The Government's 10-Year Health Plan commits to delivering a single patient record (SPR). The SPR will give staff and providers access to the information they need to provide health and care and will end the need for patients to repeat their medical history when interacting with different health and care providers. It will provide a comprehensive patient record, bringing together information from all of a patient’s medical records into one place.We have been engaging with the public to help shape our plans, including what information they would like to see included in an SPR, and we will continue to talk to the public and to health and care professionals as we design the SPR to ensure their needs are reflected. The SPR will begin to go live from 2028.

What steps his Department is taking to help improve information sharing between GPs and hospital trusts in Greater Manchester.

Information sharing within the Greater Manchester region is supported by the Greater Manchester Care Record (GM Care Record), a digital resource for 3.4 million citizens, that is used to help improve health and care services and save lives. It brings together information shared by National Health Service trusts, general practices, and care services across all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs into one joined up patient record. The GM Care Record is used by frontline health and care workers to ensure patients receive the care and treatment they need, at the right time, and in the right way.

What steps his Department is taking to improve patient safety across the NHS in Greater Manchester.

The Department has been informed that, in 2023, the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB) reviewed its approach to quality assurance and provider oversight and developed the Greater Manchester Quality Assurance and Escalation Framework. As a commissioner, the ICB has a provider oversight framework that operates alongside NHS England’s provider oversight framework to ensure that there is strong oversight in relation to patient safety. All providers’ boards are accountable for their workforce and organisational culture and report on areas such as safer staffing and workforce planning.We have been informed by the ICB that the measures being taken to improve patient safety across Greater Manchester are focused on the areas of quality assurance and provider oversight, winter planning, maternity and neonatal oversight, and mental health oversight.The Government is committed to advancing patient safety and a learning culture across the National Health Service. The changes we are making as part of the 10-Year Health Plan will improve quality and safety by making it clear where responsibility and accountability sits at all levels of the system. This will be reinforced by a new era of transparency, a rigorous focus on high-quality care, and a renewed focus on patient and staff voice.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing for people who have been diagnosed with PTSD in Greater Manchester.

The NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning services to meet the mental health needs of people across Greater Manchester. Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing is recommended as a treatment option for adults with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. People with post-traumatic stress disorder may be able to access it through local NHS Talking Therapies services.

Whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that men’s mental health organisations in the north of England are consulted on the forthcoming men’s health strategy.

The Men's Health Strategy will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all men in England and will be informed by a call for evidence that is open to the public, academics, health and social care professionals, and stakeholder organisations in England. The call for evidence closes on 17 July 2025. We encourage all men’s mental health organisations in the north of England to complete the call for evidence and have their say on ways to tackle the biggest health problems facing men. We will continue to engage with stakeholders during development of the strategy.

What steps he is taking to improve mental health services for (a) young men, (b) young women and (c) vulnerable people in Heywood and Middleton North constituency.

We know that waits for children and young people's mental health services are lengthy and that some vulnerable groups are less likely to access support. That is why the National Health Service’s planning guidance for 2025/26 makes it clear that one of the priorities for children's mental health services is to reduce local inequalities in access to children and young people’s mental health services between disadvantaged groups, including in Heywood and Middleton North constituency, and the wider population.The Government will also recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across child and adult mental health services and provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school through expanding Mental Health Support Teams, so that every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.Early intervention and prevention support in the community is vital. That is why we are providing £7 million of funding to extend support for 24 early support hubs that have a track record of helping thousands of young people in their community.

What steps he is taking to increase the number of midwives.

We will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan which will deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, to ensure that the National Health Service has the right people, including midwives, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need, when they need it.Targeted retention work for midwives is being undertaken by NHS England, led by the Chief Nursing Officer. This work contains a range of measures, including the creation of a midwifery and nursing retention self-assessment tool, mentoring schemes, strengthened advice and support on pensions, and embedding flexible retirement options. NHS England has also invested in unit-based retention leads which, alongside investment in workforce capacity, has seen a reduction in vacancy, leaver, and turnover rates. NHS England is also boosting the midwifery workforce through undergraduate training, apprenticeships, postgraduate conversion, and return to midwifery programmes.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) midwives and (b) maternity units across Greater Manchester have up-to-date equipment.

The responsibility for local funding decisions, including on equipment, ultimately rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioner. To ensure midwives and maternity units across Greater Manchester have up-to-date equipment, the following steps are being taken locally:- maternity units are required to maintain an equipment maintenance register and to implement a rolling program for the renewal and purchase of equipment; and- midwives are required to adhere to provider policies that mandate checking equipment for suitability and that it is in good working order before use.

What steps his Department is taking to improve the handling of complaints regarding private hospice care.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England and, therefore, covers the palliative and end of life care sector, including independent hospices. The CQC registers health and adult care providers, monitors and inspects services to see whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led, and publishes their findings, including quality ratings. The CQC can use its legal powers to take action where poor care is identified, and can publish regional and national reviews of the major quality issues in health and social care, including palliative and end of life care, encouraging improvement by highlighting good practice. A complaint regarding hospice care can also be made to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint The majority of independent hospices receive some funding from their local integrated care board (ICB). If a hospice does receive funding via that route, a complaint can be raised with the local ICB via the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/about-nhs-services/contact-your-local-integrated-care-board-icb/

What steps his Department is taking to increase the number of adults that visit a dentist in Rochdale Borough, compared to the last two years.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Rochdale Borough, this is the NHS Greater Manchester ICB.ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

What steps his Department has taken to increase the number of adults that have visited a dentist in Rochdale Borough in the last two years.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Rochdale Borough, this is the NHS Greater Manchester ICB.ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

What steps his Department is taking to help reduce pressures on (a) community health and (b) primary care settings within the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board.

Community health services are an essential building block in developing a neighbourhood health service. The Department and NHS England are committed to reducing pressures on community health services, which includes reducing long waits and improving timely access to these services.NHS Greater Manchester has invested £2 million to support Primary Care Winter Schemes for Greater Manchester, and this funding is delivering additional general practice (GP) appointments, meaning that primary care services have the capacity to be able to respond to surges in demand for primary care access.

What steps his Department plans to take to ensure that potential reform of the national contract for dentists considers the views of dentists practicing in Greater Manchester.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.We are continuing to meet with the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients. We want to ensure that any reform takes into account the views of dentists across England, including in Greater Manchester.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of hospital bed availability in health trusts in the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board.

Hospital bed occupancy, including in Manchester, is too high. This reduces the number of beds available for patients who require hospital admission.Greater Manchester Integrated Care System continues to take action to support bed occupancy including a concentrated focus on the implementation of strategies and services aimed at preventing unnecessary hospital admissions, particularly for vulnerable populations.

Whether he has made an assessment of the factors that contribute to people being unable to access NHS dentists in Greater Manchester.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.We are continuing to meet with the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients. We want to ensure that any reform takes into account the views of dentists across England, including in Greater Manchester.

What steps he has taken to support people suffering with Endometriosis in Greater Manchester across regional healthcare settings.

The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the care that those suffering from gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis, receive. We have taken urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan. In gynaecology, the plan supports innovative models offering patients care closer to home, and piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres.Work is ongoing across Greater Manchester to improve women’s healthcare. NHS Greater Manchester’s Gynaecology Transformation programme aims to reduce health inequalities by bringing care closer to home, improving access, and reducing fragmentation in women’s health care. This is focused on developing a general practice-led community service for some elements of gynaecology services to improve access and reduce long waits. Medical and surgical treatment of non-severe endometriosis is undertaken by gynaecologists with a special interest in locally commissioned services. Specialised gynaecological surgery for severe endometriosis is based at the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and the Northern Care Alliance.In addition to this, NHS Greater Manchester is contributing to the North East and West of England endometriosis transformation programme. This programme is addressing long waits for patients with severe endometriosis and improving patient pathways, from presentation in general practice through to management in secondary care.