Every parliamentary written question tabled by Lee Dillon this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 61–80 of 135 · Department of Health and Social Care
When he plans to announce the next phase of the National Service Frameworks.
Early priorities for Modern Service Frameworks will include cardiovascular disease, sepsis, severe mental illness and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. As advised by the National Quality Board, the Government will consider other conditions for future phases of MSFs and has recently announced an MSF on palliative and end-of-life care.
What steps he is taking to reduce elective care waiting times for (a) joint replacement surgery and (b) other surgeries.
Reducing elective waiting times across all specialties is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission, and this includes waiting times for trauma and orthopaedics. We exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments, tests, and operations in our first year of Government, delivering 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025. This marked a vital First Step to delivering on our commitment to return 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.As of the end of November 2025, the number of trauma and orthopaedic pathways within 18 weeks stood at 59.2%, an improvement of 3.1% since the start of July 2024.However, we know there is more to do, and have confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment to expand capacity across diagnostics, electives, and urgent care. This includes increasing the number of surgical hubs, which provide protected surgical capacity across elective specialities, including trauma and orthopaedics.By separating elective services from urgent and emergency care, hubs improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital pressures. Almost three quarters of the 124 operational elective surgical hubs in England currently provide trauma and orthopaedics services.
With reference to the Elective Recovery Plan, what progress his Department has made on the 18-week referral-to-treatment targets.
As set out in the Plan for Change and the Elective Reform Plan, 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.We have already made significant progress on this. As of November 2025, the waiting list has reduced by over 312,000 since the Government came into office, and performance against the referral to treatment standard has improved by 2.9%, reaching 61.8%.We’ve made this progress through setting ambitious targets, investing in modernisation, reforming and simplifying pathways, increasing surgical and diagnostic capacity, and empowering patients with faster and more convenient access to care.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 marked a vital First Step towards delivering the constitutional standard.
Whether he is taking steps to improve workplace (a) catering and (b) rest facilities for healthcare workers.
Good physical working environments are important for staff wellbeing and retention. Staff need to be given the time and space to rest and recover from their work, particularly when working on-call or overnight. This is recognised as a priority in the NHS People Promise which sets out the importance of employers prioritising spaces for staff to rest and recuperate, and ensuring access to hot food and drinks.In May 2024, NHS England and NHS Charities Together launched a £10 million Workforce Wellbeing Programme to support National Health Service staff in England. It will provide tailored health and wellbeing support to NHS staff, including grants to improve facilities. A three-year programme of work named Great Food, Good Health, led by NHS England, aims to improve the experience and quality of nutritious food that patients, staff, and visitors receive in hospital. As part of this, the NHS made clear that NHS organisations must be able to demonstrate they have suitable 24/7 food service provision.
Whether his Department has plans to extend business rates reimbursement to community pharmacies on the same basis as GP practices and NHS dental surgeries.
In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and to continue to prioritise reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.
What steps he is taking to ensure adequate supporting services to enable swift discharges from hospital in winter 2025-26.
The Urgent and Emergency Care plan for 2025/26 identifies reducing delays in hospital discharge as a key priority. Hospitals are expected to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by in-hospital issues, to work with local authorities to tackle the longest delays, starting with those over 21 days, and to profile discharges by pathway to support local planning. Further information on the Urgent and Emergency Care plan for 2025/26 is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/In addition, the 2025/26 policy framework for the £9 billion Better Care Fund requires the National Health Service and local authorities to jointly agree local goals for reducing discharge delays. This can include intermediate care and reablement support services which primarily focus on providing individuals with a short-term period of rehabilitation or reablement to maximise independence. These services can either follow a discharge from hospital, known as step-down, or provide an alternative to hospital or care home admission, known as step-up. Further information on the Better Care Fund policy framework is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-care-fund-policy-framework-2025-to-2026
What steps he is taking to reduce the number of patients waiting for longer than 12 hours in A&E.
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the NHS Constitutional standard.Provisional NHS England data for November 2025 shows that 7.2% of patients in England waited over 12 hours from arrival, an improvement from 10.8% in November 2024. Please note that these figures are provisional and may be subject to revision with finalised data published the following month. Both provisional and finalised data can be accessed at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2025-26/Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out a fundamental shift in the approach to urgent and emergency care, aiming to reduce the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10%. This is supported by nearly £450 million of capital investment to expand urgent and emergency care services across the country.
What steps his Department is taking to (a) improve capacity within the social care system and (b) reduce delayed discharges.
The Department is working closely with NHS England and local authorities to improve social care capacity and reduce delayed discharges.The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) provided over £1 billion to local authorities for adult social care over 2025/26, based on their areas’ needs, to target increasing fee rates paid to adult social care providers, increasing adult social care workforce recruitment and retention, and reducing waiting times for care.We are also supporting the digitisation of adult social care, which can strengthen capacity within the social care system through productivity improvements. 80% of registered care providers now have digitised care records, benefitting 89% of people who draw on care. Digital care records can save time spent on administrative tasks, releasing over 20 minutes per care worker, per shift.The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 identifies reducing delays in hospital discharge as a key priority. Hospitals are expected to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by in-hospital issues, to work with local authorities to tackle the longest delays, starting with those over 21 days, and to profile discharges by pathway to support local planning. In addition, the 2025/26 policy framework for the £9 billion Better Care Fund requires the National Health Service and local authorities to jointly agree local goals for reducing discharge delays.Starting in the financial year 2026/27, we will reform the Better Care Fund. This reform will provide a sharper focus on ensuring consistent joint NHS and local authority funding for those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation and reablement. We will set out further details in due course.
Whether he is taking steps to ensure that cancer patients in Newbury are treated within 62 days.
We have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments across elective, diagnostic, and cancer care, having now delivered over five million more appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster access to treatment.Between November 2024 to October 2025, approximately 110,000 more patients were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days compared to the previous 12 months. This supports the achievement of the 62-day treatment standard, as faster diagnosis means that patients can begin treatment sooner.The latest available data shows that the 62-day treatment standard for the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board has improved by 3.5% between October 2024 and October 2025.However, we recognise that there is more to do, including for patients in Newbury.To ensure that the most advanced treatment is available to the patients who need it, and so that patients can be treated sooner, the Government has also invested £70 million of central funding to replace outdated radiotherapy machines, including one at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
What steps he is taking to improve access to routine tissue freezing for brain cancer patients in Newbury.
Information on the number of National Health Service trusts in England that have facilities for fresh freezing brain cancer tissue samples is not currently collected and no recent assessment has been made on the adequacy, extent, or capacity of procedures for freezing brain cancer and general cancer tissue samples across NHS trusts in England.Pathology services in England are delivered through 27 regional pathology networks, and offer a comprehensive range of tests, including the analysis of brain tissues. Individual pathology services maintain their own standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fresh, or snap-freezing, of tissue samples. These SOPs outline local capabilities and practices.In addition, the Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support NHS trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.
What steps his department is taking to help tackle potential gaps in specialist vision rehabilitation monitoring.
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities in England have a legal duty to support people with sight loss to develop practical skills and strategies to maintain independence.Although the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is not currently required to assess vision rehabilitation services as regulated activities under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, sensory services, including vision rehabilitation, do form part of the CQC’s overall assessment of local authorities’ delivery of adult social care.The CQC assessments identify local authorities’ strengths and areas for development, in their delivery of their duties under part 1 of the Care Act. This facilitates the sharing of good practice and helps us to target support where it is most needed. It may be helpful to know that the CQC will report on sensory services when there is something important to highlight, for example, something being done well, innovative practice, or an area for improvement.West Berkshire Council was rated ‘Good’ by the CQC. Its assessment was published on 17 May 2024, and the report is available at the following link:https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports/WBerkshire-0524
What assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in levels of waiting times for vision rehabilitation services on patients in Newbury constituency.
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities in England have a legal duty to support people with sight loss to develop practical skills and strategies to maintain independence.Although the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is not currently required to assess vision rehabilitation services as regulated activities under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, sensory services, including vision rehabilitation, do form part of the CQC’s overall assessment of local authorities’ delivery of adult social care.The CQC assessments identify local authorities’ strengths and areas for development, in their delivery of their duties under part 1 of the Care Act. This facilitates the sharing of good practice and helps us to target support where it is most needed. It may be helpful to know that the CQC will report on sensory services when there is something important to highlight, for example, something being done well, innovative practice, or an area for improvement.West Berkshire Council was rated ‘Good’ by the CQC. Its assessment was published on 17 May 2024, and the report is available at the following link:https://www.cqc.org.uk/care-services/local-authority-assessment-reports/WBerkshire-0524
What steps his department is taking to improve community-based glaucoma care services.
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them. This can include the commissioning of enhanced eye care services from high street optical practices, such as glaucoma referral refinement services and glaucoma monitoring.The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.
What assessment he has made of the potential merits of integrating AI into audiology care and diagnoses.
The Department recognises the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve patient care across a range of clinical areas, including audiology. While there is currently no dedicated programme focused solely on AI in audiology, the Government’s wider strategy for AI in health and care sets out how emerging technologies will be evaluated and adopted where they demonstrate clear benefits for patients and clinicians.Under the AI in Health and Care Award, the Department and NHS England have invested over £100 million to support real-world testing of AI technologies in high-impact areas such as diagnostics and screening. Lessons from these programmes, such as the need for robust clinical validation, regulatory compliance, and integration into National Health Service workflows will inform future consideration of AI applications in audiology.
What support is available to the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire Integrated Care Board to increase community audiology services across West Berkshire.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local population. This includes the arrangement of community audiology services. The Medium Term Planning Framework – delivering change together 2026/27 to 2028/29 sets a clear target for systems to work to, in order to reduce long waits for community services. By 2028/29, at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks. In addition, to support the shift to neighbourhood health, systems have been asked to increase community health service capacity to meet the growth in demand and to work to standardise the provision of core services. Systems have also been asked to improve productivity across community health services, by identifying and acting on productivity opportunities, including ensuring teams have the digital tools and equipment they need to connect remotely to health systems and patients, and to expand point-of-care testing in the community.
What assessment he has made of the potential impact of South Central Ambulance Service’s decision on crew break arrangements on ambulance wait times in Newbury.
No specific assessment has been made. Operational arrangements such as scheduling and management of crew breaks is the responsibility of individual ambulance trusts which are required to comply with United Kingdom employment law and National Health Service contractual standards.The South Central Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust is currently piloting a new approach to ambulance crew breaks. The change is designed for the benefit of both staff and patients, supporting crews to take their meal breaks at allocated times alongside responding effectively to patient demand by maintaining coverage over the region during peak periods.
What steps his department is taking to help reduce public stigma surrounding age-related hearing loss.
The Government recognises the impact that age-related hearing loss can have on people’s lives, and that the challenges they face can be exacerbated by stigma surrounding the condition.It is important that people with age-related hearing loss are actively supported and empowered to lead the lives they want for themselves and their families, and NHS England is working with partners to support people in England to age well. In 2017, NHS England published a guide for commissioners and health and social care providers to support older people with hearing loss to maintain health, wellbeing, and independence. This guide is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/hearing-loss-what-works-guide-healthy-ageing.pdfThe National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has also published guidelines, titled Hearing loss in adults: assessment and management, which aims to improve the lives of adults with hearing loss by advising healthcare staff on assessing and managing hearing loss in primary, community, and secondary care settings. This guide is also available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng98/resources/hearing-loss-in-adults-assessment-and-management-pdf-1837761878725The Government recognises the pivotal role that local authorities, and adult social care specifically, play in nurturing local communities and helping people to live as independent and fulfilling lives as possible. We are progressing towards a National Care Service based on higher quality of care, greater choice and control, and better joined-up services, with over £4 billion of additional funding available for adult social care by 2028/29.
What steps his Department is taking with the South Central Ambulance Service to reduce ambulance wait times for people in Newbury constituency.
The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance response times have not met the high standards patients should expect.We are determined to turn things around and have taken serious steps to achieve this. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year. The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) has a dedicated Category 2 performance team driving improvements through targeted interventions.We have already seen improvements in ambulance response times in SCAS, which serves Newbury. The latest NHS performance figures for SCAS show that Category 2 incidents were responded to in 31 minutes 54 seconds on average, over six minutes faster the same month last year.
Whether his department has issued guidance on steps to help increase Child Vision Screening Programmes.
The UK National Screening Committee recommends vision screening for children aged four to five years old. Information on the UK National Screening Committee is available at the following linkhttps://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-national-screening-committeeThe aim is to identify children with reduced vision in one or both eyes so that defects can be rectified early. Local authorities are responsible for this as part of the Healthy child programme, although it is not mandated. Further information on the Healthy child programme is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/healthy-child-programmeThe Department has published a suite of resources to support the commissioning and delivery of high-quality, consistent child vision screening services, with further information available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-vision-screening
What support he is providing to the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire Integrated Care Board to ensure that people are receiving timely treatment for brain cancer.
The Department recognises that there are currently limited treatment options available for people who have been diagnosed with brain tumours, and the significant impact that rarer forms of cancer can have on patients, carers, and their families. The Government is invested in driving new lifesaving and life-improving research, supporting those diagnosed and living with brain tumours.We have already invested £70 million in replacing outdated radiotherapy machines across the National Health Service with new cutting-edge technology that will speed up treatment for thousands of patients, and this includes a new machine to be situated in the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.Additionally, the Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers which will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers, such as brain cancers, to take place across England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. This will ensure that the NHS will remain at the forefront of medical innovation and is able to provide patients with the newest, most effective treatment options and ultimately boost survival rates.Early next year, the Government will publish a National Cancer Plan which will set out targeted actions to reduce lives lost to cancers and improve the experience of patients, including those with brain cancer.