East Midlands Ambulance Service

Debate between Anna Soubry and Heather Wheeler

Monday 21st January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Anna Soubry)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) on securing this debate. Were it not for the fact that I now sit on the Front Bench, I would have put in for a similar debate—there is no doubt about it—such is my concern, as the constituency MP representing Broxtowe, about the situation with East Midlands ambulance service. It is important that I recognise that interest, because I, too, have had many concerns about EMAS, although they are perhaps slightly different from those the hon. Gentleman has described. As a result, I had a meeting with the chief executive of EMAS, Mr Philip Milligan, a week last Friday. I believe that he has since met the hon. Gentleman, so he will have heard about many of the issues that the hon. Gentleman raised in the House today, and rightly so.

I do not believe that this is simply a matter of finance—that is certainly not where my concern lies—or about the “Being the Best” scheme, which has been out for consultation, as the hon. Gentleman described. My concern, and that of many other hon. Members whose constituencies are covered by EMAS, is about poor response times, notably for elderly people who have fallen. My hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Nicky Morgan), for example, has had difficulties in her constituency, and I have had half a dozen problems in mine, with frail elderly people with suspected fractures having to lie on the floor, sometimes for up to four hours, despite being less than 10 minutes from the Queen’s medical centre in Nottingham. My hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Heather Wheeler) is nodding in agreement, as no doubt she has heard of similar experiences in her constituency. That situation is unacceptable, and I hope to offer some insight as to why that is the case.

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

In South Derbyshire we have had numerous cases of elderly people falling over in a park and having to wait hours for an ambulance. Residents have come to put blankets on them because they know that they should not be moved. We are 15 minutes from Burton hospital, but we cannot do anything because we rely on the professionals.

[Anna Soubry]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her intervention, but I think that it is also important to pay tribute to the ambulance staff who work for EMAS and the outstanding work they do. It is also important to point out that between October 2010 and December 2012 EMAS recruited 65 new front-line staff, so something is going on that is not right. Many people are of the view that unfortunately it is the way that EMAS is being run that is at the heart of the problem.