Accident and Emergency Departments Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateHenry Smith
Main Page: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)Department Debates - View all Henry Smith's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(11 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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I can absolutely reassure the hon. Lady on that point. We are extremely careful—I have had good discussions with her about this—before making any structural changes, to ensure that the impact on neighbouring A and E departments is properly thought through. Since the statement to the House about Trafford hospital, we have approved a capital funding programme for one of the neighbouring hospitals that will be affected. That is extremely important and we will continue to monitor it closely.
The A and E unit that my constituents have to access is at East Surrey hospital, and I welcome last year’s investment of £4 million to refurbish it, but does my right hon. Friend agree that Labour’s closure of Crawley A and E in 2005 certainly did not help with the pressure on local A and E departments?
A number of things have contributed to these changes, one of which is that we have not succeeded, as an NHS or as a Parliament, in getting the way in which we do reconfigurations right: they do not command the confidence of the public and people are not satisfied that there are alternatives that they can trust or that good alternatives will be put in place when a change is proposed. We need to learn the lessons from what happened in my hon. Friend’s constituency.