Accident and Emergency Departments Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Pat McFadden
Main Page: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)Department Debates - View all Pat McFadden's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
Accident and Emergency Departments
Pat McFadden Excerpts(11 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Mr Hunt
Quite a lot of the money will help ambulance services indirectly because it will be intended to reduce the number of blue light calls by, for example, providing primary care alternatives to A and E by better integrating health and social care economies, but the long-term change that we announced last week, which I think will make a real difference to ambulance trusts, involves IT. In this day and age it is crazy that an ambulance can answer a 999 call and go to someone’s home not knowing that they are a diabetic who has mild dementia and who had some falls last year. That information could be incredibly helpful to paramedics and we want to make sure that, with patients’ consent, they have it at their fingertips.
Mr Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton South East) (Lab)
The A and E at the Wolverhampton New Cross hospital is already under great pressure and earlier this year had its busiest day in history, but what really concerns local people are the possible implications of the closure of the A and E at Mid Staffs and the transfer of the work to New Cross. Can the Secretary of State confirm that if that goes ahead, New Cross hospital will have the resources in terms of capital and staff to make it work, because the alternative will be a second-class service for patients in both Wolverhampton and Staffordshire?
Mr Hunt
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for the interest and support that he shows for his local hospital. Of course, Mid Staffs has an extremely troubled history and it would be a derogation of my duties if I did not try to sort out the problems there once and for all, but we will not make any changes that have knock-on effects on neighbouring trusts without proper assessment and making sure that provisions are in place so that they can cope with any additional pressures. The final decision about what is going to be done has not been made, but I reassure the right hon. Gentleman on that point.