Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about the NHS.
On my website I set out my views on a range of the issues on which I am most often contacted and last October, I set out my views on the NHS and its funding and you can read those here: NHS funding and support for NHS services (including the Every Doctor campaign): October 2022 | Richard Fuller. Since then, the Prime Minister has announced five key priorities for 2023 and has committed to ensuring that NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly - Prime Minister outlines his five key priorities for 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). I will set out below my views on a range of issues affecting the NHS at present such as the need for additional capacity, funding issues, industrial action and the pressure on ambulance services.
More information is here about the broader plan for the NHS in the coming months - Our plan for patients - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
With regards to hospital beds in England, I appreciate that some constituents are concerned about NHS capacity. The Government works closely with the NHS on capacity planning to ensure there are sufficient beds to meet future demand. As you will have seen earlier this month the Prime Minister set out his plan to support hospitals at this difficult time which included £200 million to speed up hospital discharge to free up hospital capacity and reduce the Covid backlogs and a further £50 million of capital funding was announced to upgrade and expand hospitals including new ambulance hubs and facilities for patients about to be discharged, Up to £250 million to speed up hospital discharge - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Hospitals regularly plan for surges and NHS Trusts set their own operational plans, including bed capacity. In 2022, this took into account the need to rise to the challenges of restoring services after Covid, meeting the new care demands and reducing the care backlogs that are a direct consequence of the pandemic. NHS bed capacity is not fixed and can be flexed to meet changes in demand, for example over the winter months. I am aware that the NHS recently set out steps to boost capacity and resilience for the winter period. 7,000 more hospital beds will be available in 2022/23 through a mix of delivering new hospital beds, ‘virtual ward’ spaces and initiatives to improve patient flow. A £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund has been established to reduce delayed discharge. £600 million will be distributed in 2023-24 and £1 billion in 2024-25 through the Better Care Fund to get people out of hospital on time into care settings, freeing up NHS beds for those that need them, NHS England » Better Care Fund
The Chancellor also recently made a number of spending commitments at the Autumn Statement, as part of this, the Government is investing an additional £3.3 billion in 2023-24 and 2024-25 to support the NHS in England, Autumn Statement 2022: documents - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This will enable rapid action to improve emergency, elective and primary care performance. This is part of an overall package which has seen spending increase from £133 billion at the start of this Parliament, to over £177 billion by the end: an increase of over £44 billion. Despite difficult financial circumstances, NHS investment has increased every year since 2010.
The Government has provided £1.5 billion to deliver new surgical hubs and increased bed capacity to help elective services recover. Over 50 new surgical hubs will open across England, providing at least 100 more operating theatres and over 1,000 beds. This will allow hundreds of thousands more patients to have quicker access to vital procedures and help tackle the care backlog.
The Government will also make available up to £2.8 billion in 2023-24 in England and £4.7 billion in 2024-25 to help support adult social care and discharge. This includes £1 billion of new grant funding in 2023-24 and £1.7 billion in 2024-25, further flexibility for local authorities on council tax and, having heard the concerns of local government, delaying the rollout of adult social care charging reform until October 2025.
Decisions in relation to NHS capacity will make a significant difference and when combined with an enlarged workforce and increased funding these measures are very welcome. Recent data shows there are record numbers of doctor and nurses working in the NHS in England, easing pressure over winter by delivering additional appointments, speeding up diagnoses and tackling the Covid backlog. Almost 4,700 more doctors and over 10,500 more nurses have been recruited since October 2021 meaning that 35,300 more doctors and over 47,100 more nurses are working in the NHS than in 2010. You can read more about this here: Record numbers of doctors and nurses working in the NHS to ease pressure over winter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
With regard to the proposed industrial action being undertaken by the Royal College of Nursing, I am extremely grateful for the dedication of nursing staff in very difficult circumstances over the last three years. During the pandemic, nurses were on the frontline of caring and treating for patients affected by Covid-19. I appreciate that the challenge of working in the NHS during the pandemic, and through the current period when the demand for patient care is very high, has taken a significant toll on nurses.
I am aware that the last few years have amplified existing challenges in the nursing workforce, such as the ability to retain experienced nursing staff to continue working in the NHS.
Extending flexible working is one way to alleviate these challenges in a number of different professions, so that NHS staff have greater choice over their working patterns and achieve a better work-life balance. It is important that local NHS bodies follow guidance from organisations like NHS Employers and the NHS Staff Council in this area.
With regard to pay, the Government recognises the cost-of-living pressures facing nurses, and this is reflected in decisions about pay increases, About us - NHS Pay Review Body - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The Government makes decisions on annual pay increases for nurses based on the expert advice of the independent NHS Pay Review Body. In making their recommendations, the NHS Pay Review Body considers a range of factors including the cost of living, recruitment and retention.
In 2022, most nurses received around a 4-5 per cent pay rise, dependent on where they are in their band.
Full-time basic pay for newly qualified nurses starting at the bottom of Band 5 will increase by £1,400 – equivalent to a nearly 5.5 per cent pay rise – to £27,055 from £25,655 last year. This means that newly qualified nurses will typically earn over £31,000 a year including overtime and unsocial hours payments. More experienced nurses at the top of Band 6 will see pay increase by £1,561, to £40,588 from £39,027 last year. Staff including nurses, paramedics and midwives, received a pay rise of at least £1,400 with the lowest earners receiving an increase of up to 9.3 per cent. Doctors and dentists received a 4.5 per cent pay rise.
It is also important to note that the NHS pay review body has been asked to start work on making pay recommendations for the year from April 2023, which will consider economic changes over the last year.
With regard to ambulance response times, I recognise that ambulance services are strained. Indeed I visited the East of England Ambulance Control Centre last year and saw first-hand the challenges faced by our ambulance services, Richard visits East of England Ambulance Control Centre | Richard Fuller
The Government is working to reduce ambulance waiting times and took strong action to prepare the NHS for this winter. NHS England has allocated an additional £150 million to address ambulance service pressures in 2022/23 and support improvements to response times through call handler recruitment and retention. The Department for Health’s policy paper ‘Our Plan for Patients’ outlined the aim of increasing the number of call handlers in NHS 111 and in 999. This will help with the answering of 111 calls and dispatch of ambulances for those in greatest need following a call to 999.
The Government is focused on delivering shorter response times for Category 1 and 2 incidents, enabled by quicker handover of patients so ambulances can get back on the road and respond to 999 calls. This objective is being backed by a plan to train and deploy more paramedics, and Health Education England has been mandated to train 3,000 paramedic graduates nationally each year, which is double the number of graduates accepted in 2016. Furthermore, the Government has agreed a £30 million auxiliary contract with St John Ambulance to provide surge capacity of at least 5,000 hours per month to help bring down ambulance response times, Our support for urgent and emergency care - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Action is also being taken to reduce the time it takes for ambulance handovers once patients reach hospital. Waiting times for transferring ambulance patients to A&E will be reduced as facilities are upgraded and the NHS increases capacity by at least 7,000 general and acute beds.
I hope the above information is helpful to clarify what action the Government is taking to ensure that the NHS continues to deliver its services but if you would like to discuss any of the above in more detail I would be happy to do so at one of my surgeries, Surgeries and Town Hall Meetings | Richard Fuller.
Sincerely,
