NHS: Winter Preparedness Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Helen Morgan
Main Page: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)Department Debates - View all Helen Morgan's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
NHS: Winter Preparedness
Helen Morgan Excerpts(1 day, 21 hours ago)
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Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
It is obvious already that this year is going to be very difficult for the NHS, with many A&E departments already overwhelmed, hospital wards full and too many patients looking at spending their Christmas on a corridor. Indeed, corridor care has been common throughout this year and even trusts that have seen improvement in other areas, such as Shrewsbury and Telford in my constituency, are struggling to make real progress in urgent and emergency care. In July this year, one in five people who arrived at an A&E in Shropshire had to wait more than 12 hours, and that was before the double whammy of a record winter flu epidemic and an irresponsible doctors’ strike.
Will the Prime Minister chair regular Cobra meetings to address this emergency? Will the Minister agree to make flu vaccines available to far more people and roll out an emergency vaccination scheme in communities to reach people who have been missed? Finally, will the Government support Liberal Democrat calls for a dedicated winter crisis unit, providing the locum doctors and social care support needed to discharge patients and free up hospital beds?
Wes Streeting
We are doing much of what the Liberal Democrat spokesperson asks; the hon. Lady is absolutely right that we need to focus on delayed discharge and demand management, and the system is doing all of those things. It is challenging in the NHS. The House will know of our determination to end corridor care. We have certainly ended the nomenclature of “temporary escalation spaces”, which makes corridor care sound like it is both normal and acceptable in the NHS, neither of which is true. I will stop short of asking the Prime Minister to chair Cobra meetings. That would not be the right mechanism or response, but of course he and I meet regularly to discuss winter pressures, and I will keep him apprised of the situation.