Oral Answers to Questions

Gareth Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Simon Jupp (East Devon) (Con)]

What progress his Department has made on ensuring the provision of adequate critical care capacity in hospitals during the covid-19 outbreak.

[Gareth Davies (Grantham and Stamford) (Con)]

What progress his Department has made on ensuring the provision of adequate critical care capacity in hospitals during the covid-19 outbreak.

[Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East) (SNP)]

What plans he has to ensure that the NHS has the capacity to tackle the next phase of the covid-19 outbreak.

--- Later in debate ---

[Matt Hancock]

Absolutely. My hon. Friend is a great advocate for Devon, and for East Devon in particular. The Nightingale Hospital in Exeter will have more flexible uses than the previous Nightingales, so, for instance, it will be usable should there be extra winter pressures. This is all part of protecting our NHS. At the heart of our response to this dreadful disease, we protected the NHS, making sure it was always there for everyone. That has been down to, and is a testament to, the work of so many people, who delivered on that requirement.

[Gareth Davies]

Yesterday, our local NHS trust, the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, temporarily downgraded and closed emergency admissions at Grantham and District Hospital, in response to covid-19. After many years of uncertainty, there is understandable scepticism about this latest move by the trust. Will the Secretary of State join me in calling on the trust to ensure that these changes are indeed temporary and that covid is not used as cover to make them permanent?

[Matt Hancock]

Thanks to my hon. Friend’s assiduous work on behalf of his constituents in Grantham, and at his suggestion, I discussed this issue directly with NHS officials. Grantham’s unit will be open, 24/7, as an urgent treatment centre; this is part of plans to ensure that covid and non-covid services are kept as separate as possible. In addition, thanks to his intervention, we will ensure that that position will be reviewed quarterly.