Written questions by Anderson.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that older people feel able to challenge ageism in the workplace.

I refer the Hon member to the answer on 1 September 2025 (PQs 69429, 69430).

What targets his Department has for NHS trusts regarding wait times for an ultrasound scan.

We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to bring down the size of the list and reduce waiting times, including for ultrasound.The National Imaging Data Collection (NIDC) is an annual retrospective data collection for NHS imaging services within England, including the number of reported imaging assets, including ultrasound scanners. The latest collection was published in February 2026 and details that as of March 2025, there were 3,620 ultrasound assets in England, an increase of 152 compared to March 2024. The NIDC can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostic-imaging-dataset/national-imaging-data-collection/The constitutional standard for patients waiting for a diagnostic test, including non-obstetric ultrasound, is that no more than 1% of patients will wait over six weeks from the point of referral. NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework formally commits the NHS to achieve this 1% constitutional standard by March 2029. By March 2027, the national performance target is that no more than 14% of patients are waiting over six weeks for a test, with every system required to deliver a minimum 3% performance improvement or ensure performance is at 20% or lower, whichever level of improvement is greater.Six-week wait performance for non-obstetric ultrasound is published as part of the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity data collection, which can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-data-2025-26/As at the end of December 2025, 21.4% of patients, or 132,475 patients, were waiting more than six weeks for a non-obstetric ultrasound.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of NHS ultrasound provision.

We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to bring down the size of the list and reduce waiting times, including for ultrasound.The National Imaging Data Collection (NIDC) is an annual retrospective data collection for NHS imaging services within England, including the number of reported imaging assets, including ultrasound scanners. The latest collection was published in February 2026 and details that as of March 2025, there were 3,620 ultrasound assets in England, an increase of 152 compared to March 2024. The NIDC can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostic-imaging-dataset/national-imaging-data-collection/The constitutional standard for patients waiting for a diagnostic test, including non-obstetric ultrasound, is that no more than 1% of patients will wait over six weeks from the point of referral. NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework formally commits the NHS to achieve this 1% constitutional standard by March 2029. By March 2027, the national performance target is that no more than 14% of patients are waiting over six weeks for a test, with every system required to deliver a minimum 3% performance improvement or ensure performance is at 20% or lower, whichever level of improvement is greater.Six-week wait performance for non-obstetric ultrasound is published as part of the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity data collection, which can be found at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-data-2025-26/As at the end of December 2025, 21.4% of patients, or 132,475 patients, were waiting more than six weeks for a non-obstetric ultrasound.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure pregnant women can access an emergency ultrasound scan in NHS hospitals within 24 hours of coming into A&E.

Pregnant women presenting at accident and emergency departments should be assessed and will receive additional care, such as further investigations, which may include an ultrasound scan, where clinical assessment indicates a need.Only in the context of the mother's presentation relating to concern around health or viability of the foetus would urgent scanning be required. This would be provided in an Early Pregnancy Unit for complications in the first trimester or maternity ultrasound services for complications in later pregnancy.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help reduce loneliness among older people.

This Government is committed to supporting people at risk of loneliness, including the elderly, to have the social connections they need. Our ambition to strengthen positive social connections is a key part of achieving wider government objectives to create a healthier society and more connected communities across all ages. My department has been working hard to ensure social connection and tackling loneliness are key themes throughout government policy.The government funds the Tackling Loneliness Hub, an online forum for people working on loneliness to come together and share insights, research and best practice.

What assessment he has made of the potential mental impact of delays to getting an ultrasound scan on pregnant women.

Women are usually offered two ultrasound scans during their pregnancy, around weeks 12 and 20, although more may be recommended based on their health and the pregnancy. No assessment has been made of the potential mental impact of delays to getting an ultrasound scan on pregnant women.Midwives and general practitioners are available discuss any concerns during pregnancy in the first instance. They can also refer women to specialist mental health services, which are available in England for those women who experience mental health difficulties as a result of their pregnancy.

What data his Department holds on the waiting time for emergency ultrasound scans at Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB hospitals.

The Department does not hold information on waiting times for emergency ultrasound scans.However, in December 2025, the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board carried out 2,021 unscheduled, or emergency, non-obstetric ultrasound tests. Unscheduled tests are defined as including the number of diagnostic tests or procedures carried out during the month on patients following an emergency admission, and any diagnostic tests or procedures on patients in accident and emergency.

What steps his Department is taking to help improve support for families affected by suicide.

Evidence suggests that those who are bereaved by suicide may have a risk of dying by suicide up to three times higher than the general population. The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England identifies eight priority areas for targeted and tailored support, one of which is to provide compassionate, timely, and effective support for people bereaved by suicide. Our actions are to better understand the personal experiences of people bereaved by suicide including through learning from our voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector (VCSE) partners, to explore opportunities to improve access and support for those bereaved by suicide and to engage with new evidence around bereavement. Bereavement services and support should consider the needs of different groups and communities to ensure the widest range of people receive the support they need, wherever they live. The Government, local authorities, police, coroners, the National Health Service, schools and universities, and VCSE organisations all have an essential role in providing effective and timely bereavement support to.

What steps he is taking to help raise public awareness of routes for support to prevent male suicide.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England identifies middle aged men as a priority group for targeted and tailored support at a national level. There needs to be appropriate support and signposting for suicide prevention from services men commonly interact with, especially primary care, as well as Government agencies, and wider physical and mental health services. This can also include places where people may seek support for risk factors that have been linked to male suicide, including debt, and alcohol and drug misuse. On 19 November, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the Men’s Health Strategy. 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, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease. Through the Men’s Health Strategy, we are launching a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to tackle male suicide and improve mental health literacy, by embedding health messaging into the matchday experience. We also announced the Suicide Prevention Support Pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This program will invest up to £3.6 million over three years in areas of England where middle-aged men are at most risk of taking their own lives and will tackle the barriers that they face in seeking support. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App. These services are available to men struggling with their mental health.

What steps he is taking to provide 24/7 mental health support to prevent suicide.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App. The Government has invested up to £120 million to increase the number of crisis assessment centres, which will provide reactive, short term intensive support for people in acute mental health crisis. To strengthen access to urgent mental health support, anyone in England experiencing a mental health crisis can now to speak to a trained NHS professional at any time of the day through a mental health option on NHS 111. This integrated service can give patients of all ages the chance to be listened to by a trained member of staff who can help direct them to the right place.

What recent steps he has taken to help (a) tackle male suicide and (b) improve access to support for men struggling with their mental health.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England identifies middle aged men as a priority group for targeted and tailored support at a national level. There needs to be appropriate support and signposting for suicide prevention from services men commonly interact with, especially primary care, as well as Government agencies, and wider physical and mental health services. This can also include places where people may seek support for risk factors that have been linked to male suicide, including debt, and alcohol and drug misuse. On 19 November, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the Men’s Health Strategy. 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, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease. Through the Men’s Health Strategy, we are launching a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to tackle male suicide and improve mental health literacy, by embedding health messaging into the matchday experience. We also announced the Suicide Prevention Support Pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This program will invest up to £3.6 million over three years in areas of England where middle-aged men are at most risk of taking their own lives and will tackle the barriers that they face in seeking support. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App. These services are available to men struggling with their mental health.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2026 to Question 103857, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the number of publicly-funded (a) medical and (b) dental training places.

The Government is committed to training the staff we need, including doctors and dentists, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed services set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure people with disabilities do not experience long wait times for medical appointments.

We want disabled people’s access to, and experience of, healthcare services to be equitable, effective, and responsive to their needs. The 10-Year Health Plan specifically identifies disabled people as a priority group for the development of neighbourhood health care, offering more holistic ongoing support, and noting the health inequalities they face.Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. NHS England is rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which enables the recording of key information about a disabled patient or client and the reasonable adjustments to care and treatment that they need, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately and equitably. Under a new information standard, published on 19 December 2025, all publicly funded health and social care service providers must be able to share, read, and write reasonable adjustment data by 30 September 2026.The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework requires that from 2026/27 all integrated care boards and Community Health Services must actively manage and reduce the proportion of waits across all Community Health Services over 18 weeks and develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits. It also sets a new target to deliver all urgent general practice appointments on the same day.The Elective Recovery Plan sets out commitments to tackle disparities in access to and waiting times for elective care, and our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements this winter and make services better every day.

What steps he is taking to help ensure people with (a) disabilities and (b) additional needs receive (i) timely and (ii) effective medical attention.

We want disabled people’s access to, and experience of, healthcare services to be equitable, effective, and responsive to their needs. The 10-Year Health Plan specifically identifies disabled people as a priority group for the development of neighbourhood health care, offering more holistic ongoing support, and noting the health inequalities they face.Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. NHS England is rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which enables the recording of key information about a disabled patient or client and the reasonable adjustments to care and treatment that they need, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately and equitably. Under a new information standard, published on 19 December 2025, all publicly funded health and social care service providers must be able to share, read, and write reasonable adjustment data by 30 September 2026.The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework requires that from 2026/27 all integrated care boards and Community Health Services must actively manage and reduce the proportion of waits across all Community Health Services over 18 weeks and develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits. It also sets a new target to deliver all urgent general practice appointments on the same day.The Elective Recovery Plan sets out commitments to tackle disparities in access to and waiting times for elective care, and our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements this winter and make services better every day.

What steps his Department is taking to improve research into (a) the causes of respiratory conditions and (b) the adoption of new medicines for respiratory conditions.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with respiratory conditions, have access to cutting-edge clinical research and innovative, lifesaving treatments. Between 2020/21 and 2025/26, the Department, through its research delivery arm the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), has allocated £7.4 million for research into the causes of respiratory conditions and £33.5 million for studies on the adoption of new medicines for these conditions. The NIHR accepts applications across all areas of human health, including respiratory diseases. Further information on the NIHR’s work on respiratory conditions can be found at the following link: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/support-and-services/support-for-delivering-research/specialties-and-settings/specialties#tab-respiratory

What steps his Department is taking to help improve the diagnosis of respiratory conditions.

The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.Through our community diagnostic centres we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day and seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives.This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions. We are also taking action to reduce the causes of respiratory conditions, for instance by enabling a smoke free generation and cross Government action to improve air quality.

What steps he is taking to help tackle the increase in respiratory conditions.

The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.Through our community diagnostic centres we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day and seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives.This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions. We are also taking action to reduce the causes of respiratory conditions, for instance by enabling a smoke free generation and cross Government action to improve air quality.

What steps his Department is taking to help prevent kidney disease.

The NHS England Renal Service Transformation Programme has been established to support the transformation of renal services across England to deliver better services and outcomes in relation to kidney disease. The programme recognises the importance of prevention and optimising screening, detection, and treatment. Regional renal clinical networks, with eight commissioned networks across England, have established workstreams, working with providers to develop transformation programmes to reduce the number of patients progressing through the stages of chronic kidney disease, supporting improved patient outcomes. NHS England has also established a renal Clinical Reference Group to help drive improvements in diagnosis and treatment for people living with kidney disease.

What steps he is taking to help reduce increases in the number of kidney disease cases.

The NHS England Renal Service Transformation Programme has been established to support the transformation of renal services across England to deliver better services and outcomes in relation to kidney disease. The programme recognises the importance of prevention and optimising screening, detection, and treatment. Regional renal clinical networks, with eight commissioned networks across England, have established workstreams, working with providers to develop transformation programmes to reduce the number of patients progressing through the stages of chronic kidney disease, supporting improved patient outcomes. NHS England has also established a renal Clinical Reference Group to help drive improvements in diagnosis and treatment for people living with kidney disease.

What steps he is taking to help tackle kidney disease.

The NHS England Renal Service Transformation Programme has been established to support the transformation of renal services across England to deliver better services and outcomes in relation to kidney disease. The programme recognises the importance of prevention and optimising screening, detection, and treatment. Regional renal clinical networks, with eight commissioned networks across England, have established workstreams, working with providers to develop transformation programmes to reduce the number of patients progressing through the stages of chronic kidney disease, supporting improved patient outcomes. NHS England has also established a renal Clinical Reference Group to help drive improvements in diagnosis and treatment for people living with kidney disease.