Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will allocate additional resources to alleviate the demand for accident and emergency and NHS walk-in centres services in (a) Coventry and (b) the West Midlands.

This Government has given the National Health Service a record £700 million this winter for more doctors, nurses and beds. The NHS has ensured there are plans in every area to manage the extra demand.

From this, Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has received almost £5.9 million of winter pressures money. The Coventry and Rugby System Resilience Group has used the winter pressures money on a number of schemes to alleviate demand including enhanced senior seven-day clinical cover in Emergency Departments and Acute Medicine, and additional beds.

Across the West Midlands, CCGs were allocated approximately £70 million from the winter pressures monies. The money has been used to fund a variety of schemes including additional weekend pharmacy services and increasing the number of general practitioners in the NHS 111 call centre.