Urgent and Emergency Care

Helen Hayes Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

That, I think, relates to the point that I just made about the need for flow in the system and an appropriate step-down capacity. Sometimes patients are not yet ready to be discharged to their homes, but some additional physio or other support may enable them then to go home, which is where they usually want to be. This is all part of taking a much more integrated approach, and part of that must be improving the quality of data in relation to the activity that takes place within community settings.

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

In July, the average wait time in London for an ambulance needed by someone describing the symptoms of a stroke was more than an hour—more than three times longer than the target time. Many of my constituents have told me that they are living with genuine anxiety and fear that if they or a loved one were stricken by illness or involved in a serious accident, the emergency help that they needed would not arrive in time. The Secretary of State has announced some measures today, but what my constituents want to know is when we can expect the time targets in London to be met once again, so that they can rest easy in the knowledge that if they need an ambulance, it will be there.

[Steve Barclay]

One of my reasons for going out with the London Ambulance Service—among others—over the summer was to answer the charge about what Ministers were doing, and to observe at first hand the challenges that the service had been facing. As the hon. Lady will know, performance has improved since the summer, but the service remains challenged. That is why we are considering a range of measures, such as boosting emergency departments, looking at pre and post-cohorting, looking at how we work with the taskforce, and looking at single points of access. One issue that paramedics emphasise to me is the need for, in particular, a better way for frail elderly patients to gain access to a single point for social care provision. We are working closely on that range of measures with colleagues in the London Ambulance Service.