Accident and Emergency Departments

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Monday 30th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My noble friend makes a very important point. Many people go to A&E departments who need not go there. The review of Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of NHS England, concerning how we structure emergency care in this country will be very important. Clearly, we can make much more of NHS 111.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the point that Minister’s noble friend made was that the Government’s decision to phase out NHS Direct, which used qualified nurses, and replace it with call handlers who simply use algorithms on their screens means that those call handlers are risk-averse, which therefore leads to many more people being sent to A&E. Is it not time to get qualified nurses back behind those screens and talking to patients?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

The noble Lord makes a good point. If qualified people take the call, the level of risk they are prepared to absorb will be greater, and that applies throughout the whole system.