NHS: Winter 2017-18 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateBaroness Masham of Ilton
Main Page: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Masham of Ilton's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(6 years, 4 months ago)
Lords ChamberI shall certainly look into that issue. We are reviewing insurance across primary care, as my noble friend might know, and I shall look into this specific issue.
My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the problems is the shortage of intensive care beds, which holds up operations in hospitals so that there is a queue?
The noble Baroness is quite right. That is one of the reasons we have taken some big decisions over the winter, one of which is to reduce the amount of delayed discharges. I think it has been reduced by about 1,500 beds. It was also the reason behind what was undoubtedly an unpopular decision and one that we did not want to take: to suspend and postpone some elective surgeries during January. That freed up a number of beds, which helped us to cope with the emergency admissions. Happily, it has not had to be reinstated since the end of January.