Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce ambulance queues outside Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have advised that South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has placed a mobile unit at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro to accommodate up to eight patients waiting admission. Patients accommodated by the unit will be cared for by trained professionals working as part of the ambulance service team, allowing ambulance crews to hand over their patients.

Where appropriate, patients are taken to urgent treatment centres and clinical assessment and treatment units rather than waiting to be seen in the emergency department. Timely patient discharge is also being supported to improve patient flow through hospitals and reduce ambulance queues.