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 the hours lost to handover delays by South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust.

Ambulance services experiencing long delays when handing over patients to hospitals is a priority for the National Health Service to address, because it holds up ambulances that could be responding to further 999 calls.

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Cornwall Hospital are working on improving ambulance handover times by supporting patients flow through the health and care system.

To support longer term urgent and emergency care performance, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, appointed Professor Lord Darzi to lead an independent investigation of the NHS’ performance. The investigation’s findings were published on 12 September and will feed into the Government’s work on a 10-Year Health Plan to radically reform the NHS and build a health service that is fit for the future.