Urgent and Emergency Care

Tracey Crouch Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

What I can guarantee is that, through the taskforce, we are prioritising how we get ambulances back on the road and how we speed things up to reduce handover delays. We are looking in particular at the 10 trusts in which the issue is most acute, because there is an unmet need in the community if the ambulance is not there.

On the hon. Member’s point about the backlogs with electives, we announced over the summer, as part of the work that we have been doing, a whole series of surgical hubs and community diagnostic centres. We are working with the Getting It Right First Time team, under Professor Sir Tim Briggs, on different patient pathways. A whole range of work is being done to reduce waiting times, which is why we have already cleared the longest waits—the two-year waits—and are now turning to the 18-month waits.

[Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con)]

National headlines do not often reflect the hard work of those in our local hospitals. Although there will be—indeed, there have been—cases of unforgivable waits, will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking all the hard-working paramedics, first responders and emergency department teams who serve Medway, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells hospitals, supporting my constituents in their time of need? Will he update the House on any conversations he may have had with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about major planning applications that have progressed without the appropriate healthcare facilities being provided?

[Steve Barclay]

I am happy to join my hon. Friend in thanking the paramedics in Medway, in Maidstone and beyond for all their fantastic work, especially given the pressures the system has been under during the summer. As for levelling up, a number of Members have raised with me the need to ensure that developers are making a sufficient contribution as part of their housing plans, and I shall be happy to draw that to the attention of my colleagues in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.