Written questions by McMurdock.

What steps he is taking to ensure the long-term affordability of prescription medication for people with chronic illnesses.

Approximately 89% of prescription items are dispensed free of charge in the community in England, and there are a wide range of exemptions from prescription charges already in place for which those with chronic illnesses may be eligible.Eligibility depends on the patient’s age, whether they are in qualifying full-time education, whether they are pregnant or have recently given birth, whether they have another qualifying medical condition, or whether they are in receipt of certain benefits or a war pension.Depending on their condition, patients with chronic conditions may be able to apply for a medical exemption certificate which entitles the holder to free National Health Service prescriptions.People on low incomes can apply for help with their health costs through the NHS Low Income Scheme, which provides help based on a comparison between a person’s income and their requirements. Prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) are also available. PPCs allow people to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost, with three-month and 12-month certificates available. 12-month PPCs can be paid for in ten monthly instalments, allowing the holder to get all the prescriptions they need for just over £2 per week.To further support patients with the costs of prescriptions, this year the prescription charge was frozen at 2024/25 rates.

What steps he is taking to improve NHS medication procurement processes.

The Medicines Procurement and Supply Chain (MPSC) is part of the NHS Medicines Value and Access Directorate and establishes the commercial arrangements to enable the purchasing of medicines prescribed in National Health Service hospitals in England. The MPSC manages a number of Medicines Framework agreements that define how to ensure continuity of supply for:generic medicines including newly available generic medicines used in hospitals;branded medicines, biosimilar medicines, and intravenous fluids; andblood products and dose banded chemotherapy and flu vaccines for hospitals.The MPSC constantly review the commercial pipeline to ensure procurement strategies are fit for purpose, promote resilience in the supply chain and achieve value for money for the NHS.Since the introduction of the new Procurement Act in February 2025, each procurement strategy has been reviewed to understand what process, including the new processes now available under the new act, would be most effective to use. The MPSC is currently working to implement value-based procurement into the broad portfolio categories to move the focus to achieving value, rather than just lowest price, whilst ensuring continuity of supply.

What steps he is taking to reduce short-term readmissions following mental health inpatient discharge.

In 2023, NHS England published guidance on the commissioning and delivery of acute inpatient mental health care for adults and older adults, which is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/acute-inpatient-mental-health-care-for-adults-and-older-adults/ This encourages integrated care boards and mental health providers to monitor the length of hospital stay, the number of people who are clinically ready for discharge and who have not been discharged, reasons for delayed discharges, and reasons for readmission within six months, in order to monitor the effectiveness of local discharge arrangements and to identify improvements. NHS England is also delivering a universal culture of care improvement programme, which all National Health Service and major independent providers are participating in. The programme is based on co-produced standards for high quality inpatient care, which include commitments to improve discharge and follow up support. Improving access to high quality community mental health care is critical to reducing the number of avoidable admissions to hospital and supporting people in community settings following a hospital spell. Since 2019, NHS England has invested significant additional funding to support services to transform and expand services in line with the vision set out in the Community Mental Health Framework. The new approach integrates community mental health services with primary care, whilst also improving partnerships with voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations, local authorities, and other local organisations to offer people holistic and personalised care for both their clinical and social needs, with both a ‘need-led’ and ‘no wrong door’ approach. NHS England continues to prioritise improving services for people with mental health problems, including through the development of new guidance on delivering personalised care and support, for instance the Personalised Care Framework: a Modern Care Programme Approach, the piloting and rollout of 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centres across the country, and the development of a new modern service framework for severe mental illness expected in 2026.

What assessment he has made of trends in the levels of readmission rates among mental health inpatients aged 0-17.

The following table shows the number of readmissions and the percentage of all admissions that were readmissions for children and young people’s mental health inpatient services, for 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25, and from April to August of 2025/26: Year2022/232023/242024/252025/26Number of readmissions19719615783Percentage of admissions that were readmissions7.9%8.7%7.5%9.3%Source: Mental Health Services Dataset, NHS England. A readmission is any admission which takes place within 90 days of a previous discharge, for the same patient.

What steps he is taking to include a) Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and b) hypermobility spectrum disorders in plans to improve the delivery of treatment for people with chronic illnesses.

The National Health Service recognises that people with chronic conditions, including Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), require personalised, coordinated care. EDS comprises 13 rare inherited connective-tissue disorders affecting multiple body systems. Hypermobile EDS (hEDS) is the most common sub-type and, along with HSD, is frequently associated with chronic, high-impact musculoskeletal pain. Patients may be managed across primary care, community services, and secondary care services, and diagnosis and management of the most complex cases is supported by the nationally commissioned diagnostic centres in London and Sheffield.The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Rheumatology report published in July 2021 highlighted that non-inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions, such as hypermobility-related chronic pain, benefit most from multidisciplinary, personalised pain-management strategies delivered in primary and community care, rather than routine referral to rheumatology. The GIRFT Chronic Pain workstream, introduced in 2025, is reviewing service delivery across all care settings to improve access, equity, and outcomes for patients with persistent pain.These initiatives align with wider NHS and Government plans to improve care for people with chronic illnesses by promoting integrated, proactive, and person-centred management, including multidisciplinary support in primary care networks, enhanced specialist input where needed, and better access to evidence-based interventions. For people with hEDS and HSD, this means earlier recognition, holistic management of chronic pain, and coordinated pathways that reduce unnecessary specialist referrals while ensuring complex cases are referred to appropriate tertiary services.

If he will publish data on (a) the average waiting time from referral to first appointment and (b) other assessment capacity for ADHD in each Integrated Care Board.

For the first time, NHS England published management information on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessment waiting times at a national level on 29 May 2025 as part of its ADHD data improvement plan, and data is now released each quarter, with the latest release in August 2025. Data on ADHD waiting times at an integrated care boards (ICB) level is not currently held centrally. NHS England has released technical guidance to ICBs to improve the recording of ADHD data, with a view to improving the quality of ADHD waits and diagnosis data as well as publishing more localised data. NHS England intends to publish data at an ICB level in 2026/27. NHS England established an independent ADHD taskforce which brought together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support. The final report was published 6 November, and we will carefully consider its recommendations.

Whether his Department plans to review the circumstances in which non-UK nationals can use the NHS free of charge.

The Department has no plans at present to review the circumstances in which non-United Kingdom nationals can use the National Health Service free of charge.We continue to work with NHS England to ensure that the system of cost recovery from overseas visitors works as effectively and fairly as possible.

Whether his Department plans to review the price of the NHS Health surcharge for visa applications.

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is paid as a part of a migrant’s visa application. This was last increased in February 2024, to £1,035 per year. The level of the IHS is continually under internal review, to ensure it best reflects the predicted average cost of migrants’ use of National Health Services.

What information his Department holds on (a) the cost to the public purse of providing NHS services to non-UK nationals and (b) what proportion of this cost the NHS Health surcharge covers.

National Health Service care is provided free at the point of use to people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, including people who were born abroad, if they are not subject to immigration controls. As free at the point of use access to the NHS is based upon ordinary residence and not nationality, we do not collect or hold information on the nationality of people accessing NHS services.The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is one of the NHS migrant cost recovery methods and is designed to recover NHS costs attributable to migrants requiring a visa longer than six months. In 2024/25, the IHS generated £2.6 billion in income for the NHS in the UK.For those who are not covered by the IHS or ordinarily resident in the UK, their healthcare costs are covered in one of two ways. The first is through reciprocal healthcare agreements that the UK has with other countries, where costs are recovered from those countries. The second is where individuals are directly charged by NHS trusts providing care. The Department publishes data on this income in its annual reports and accounts.The current IHS fee of £1,035 came into force in February 2024. It was calculated as the value of the healthcare budget for 2023/24 that an “average” IHS payer accounts for and reflects the Department’s most recent analysis of the cost of providing NHS services to IHS payers. The full methodology can be found in Annex A of The Immigration (Health Charge) (Amendment) Order 2024, a copy of which is attached.

What steps he is taking to reduce the amount of clinical care delivered in (a) temporary and (b) non-clinical areas within NHS hospitals.

The Government is determined to get the National Health Service back on its feet, so patients can be treated with dignity.Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, published in June 2025, set out steps we are taking to ensure that patients will receive better, faster, and more appropriate emergency care this winter, backed by a total of nearly £450 million of funding.We have also been taking key steps to ensure the health service is prepared for the colder months. This includes taking actions to try and reduce demand pressure on accident and emergency departments, increasing vaccination rates, and offering health checks to the most vulnerable, as well as stress-testing integrated care board and trust winter plans to confirm they are able to meet demand and support patient flow.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of care being delivered in (a) temporary and (B) non-purpose built environments on patient outcomes.

The Government is determined to get the National Health Service back on its feet, so patients can be treated with dignity. We recognise that the practice of providing clinical care in corridors is unacceptable and are committed to eradicating it from our NHS.Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, published in June, sets out steps we are taking to achieve this. Backed by a total of nearly £450 million of capital funding, we are expanding Same Day Emergency Care and Urgent Treatment Centres, helping to avoid unnecessary overnight admissions to hospital and supporting more efficient diagnosis, treatment and discharge for patients.The plan also includes a commitment to publish data on the prevalence of corridor care. NHS England has been working with trusts since 2024 to put in place new reporting arrangements related to the use of temporary escalation spaces, to drive improvement. The data quality is currently being reviewed, and we expect to publish the information shortly.

What recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of revised cancer waiting time standards on patient outcomes.

The Department and NHS England regularly review performance against cancer waiting time standards to ensure that patients are diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible.NHS England publishes monthly data on the three cancer waiting time standards, which can be broken down to provider level and which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times.As set out in the Government’s plan for reforming elective care, improving cancer waiting times remains a key national priority. The NHS 2025/26 Operational Planning Guidance includes commitments to improve performance against the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard to 80%, and the 62-day referral-to-treatment standard to 75% by March 2026.These standards are designed to drive earlier diagnosis and faster access to treatment, which are directly linked to improved patient outcomes. By March 2026, it is expected that approximately 100,000 more people each year will be told whether they have cancer within 28 days, and 17,000 more people will begin treatment within two months of a referral.

What discussions he has had with NHS England on ensuring that improvements in waiting times are consistent across all regions.

The Department and NHS England regularly monitor regional and trust level variation in National Health Service waiting lists to address variation in performance, so patients can expect to receive high quality care in a timely way, wherever they live.We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment. Our Reforming elective care for patients plan, published in January, sets out how the NHS will reform elective care services equitably across all trusts and regions.As an interim goal, NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 has set the national ambition for 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement in performance.To support this improvement across all trusts, there is a robust performance management process in place. The new NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 ensures that there is public accountability for performance and NHS England’s national and regional teams work with systems and providers to support improvement.There is a specific process in place to identify, intervene, and support the providers whose performance on elective waiting lists is most challenged, led by NHS England’s national and regional teams.

If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the progress made by his Department on (a) reducing the NHS care waiting list and (b) meeting the 18 week referral to treatment standard.

As set out in the Plan for Change, the Government is committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.To achieve this interim March 2026 target, we expect the size of the total waiting list to reduce. We have already made significant progress on this. As of August 2025, the waiting list had reduced by over 206,000 compared to the start of July 2024 and the proportion of waits under 18 weeks has improved by 2.2%, to 61% as of August 2025.This has been supported by the delivery of 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year, more than double the Government’s pledge of two million. This marks a vital first step in delivering the constitutional standard.

What steps he is taking to help ensure that the 18-week treatment target for elective care is in all NHS trusts.

The Department and NHS England regularly monitor regional and trust level variation in National Health Service waiting lists to address variation in performance, so patients can expect to receive high quality care in a timely way, wherever they live.We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment. Our Reforming elective care for patients plan, published in January, sets out how the NHS will reform elective care services equitably across all trusts and regions.As an interim goal, NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 has set the national ambition for 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement in performance.To support this improvement across all trusts, there is a robust performance management process in place. The new NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 ensures that there is public accountability for performance and NHS England’s national and regional teams work with systems and providers to support improvement.There is a specific process in place to identify, intervene, and support the providers whose performance on elective waiting lists is most challenged, led by NHS England’s national and regional teams.

What steps he is taking to increase capacity in community-based health and social care.

The Neighbourhood Health Service will increase access to care in the community and embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can, digitally by default, in a person’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary.This will be achieved by increasing capacity in primary and community care settings for health and social care provision. We are committed to ensuring that there is higher growth in investment in primary and community services than in hospitals and to making the most of local community assets.Neighbourhood health centres will provide easier, more convenient access to a full range of health and care services on people’s doorsteps, joining up National Health Service, local authority, and voluntary sector services as a one-stop shop.Through the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, we are supporting 43 areas across England to drive innovation and integration locally, accelerating improvements in outcomes, satisfaction, and experiences by ensuring care is more joined-up, accessible, and responsive to community needs.

What recent assessment he has made of the rate at which (a) men and (b) women access primary healthcare services.

The Department does not hold this data. The appointment data collected by general practices, dentist practices, and pharmacies published by NHS England does not include a breakdown of appointments by the sex of the patient.

What steps he is taking to encourage earlier engagement with primary healthcare among men to improve early diagnosis rates.

We are developing a Men's Health Strategy which will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all men in England, and which will be informed by a call for evidence. This includes finding the right ways to promote healthier behaviours, improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder, and improving engagement with healthcare. The call for evidence closed on 17 July 2025. The responses are informing the development of the strategy.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of delayed engagement with primary care among men on early diagnosis of health conditions.

We are developing a Men's Health Strategy which will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all men in England, and which will be informed by a call for evidence. This includes finding the right ways to promote healthier behaviours, improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder, and improving engagement with healthcare. The call for evidence closed on 17 July 2025. The responses are informing the development of the strategy.

Whether he plans to introduce (a) targeted communication and (b) outreach campaigns to increase men’s participation in (i) health screening and (ii) early intervention programmes.

We are developing a Men's Health Strategy which will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all men in England, and which will be informed by a call for evidence. This includes finding the right ways to promote healthier behaviours, improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder, and improving engagement with healthcare. The call for evidence closed on 17 July 2025. The responses are informing the development of the strategy.