To ask the Minister of Health to outline the Department’s plans for managing pressures in the health and social care system, emerging from the likely elevated risk of influenza over the 2022/23 winter period.

Trusts have submitted Service Delivery Plans for 2022/23 which require them to return to pre pandemic levels of service based on what they delivered on a month by month basis in 2019/20. These levels of activity would have been provided throughout the Winter period and so factor in seasonal pressures such as influenza, other unscheduled pressures and focusing on maximising delivery of elective care. The high impact indicators that the Trusts are being monitored against are consistent with the approach taken by NHS England to manage seasonal pressures and include measures to reduce hospital occupancy, ensure timely discharge, provide better support for people at home, improve community response for urgent and emergency care.