Urgent and Emergency Care

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

We are putting in additional funding, whether that is the additional £1.5 billion put into GP capacity in 2020, the £450 million to upgrade A&E facilities across 120 trusts, the extra £150 million specifically put into the ambulance service, the £30 million put into the St John Ambulance contract over the summer, or the further £50 million that has gone into call handling to boost the 111 service. Significant additional funds are going in as part of the support for the significant pressure that we recognise there has been over the summer.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary for visiting Kettering General Hospital in July and for his subsequent confirmation in August that the hospital has won £38 million, as a 10% down payment, to start the redevelopment of the hospital. During his visit, he visited the A&E department, which is one of the most overcrowded in the country, and saw the ambulances waiting outside. What is his assessment of the current state of play at Kettering General Hospital and its prospects for the future?

[Steve Barclay]

First I acknowledge on the record the campaigning that my hon. Friend and colleagues have done for a new hospital at Kettering. They particularly demonstrated the urgency of addressing issues with the energy plant, so I was pleased that we were able to get that enabling work done. All A&E facilities have been under pressure over the summer, which is why we have announced the additional funding. It is about boosting capacity in call centres, looking at how we address variation in performance among ambulance trusts, particularly on conveyancing, and looking at how we get more flow into hospitals. That is why, along with the hospital, I also visited a care home in my hon. Friend’s constituency, in order to look at how we better address the issue of delayed discharge.