Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many A&E Departments have permanently closed since 2010; and if he will list them.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many A&E wards have been closed in NHS hospitals in England since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Data is not available in format requested.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many accident and emergency services including paediatric emergency services in hospitals in England have been closed (a) temporarily and (b) permanently in each of the last 10 years; and how many of those that closed permanently either fully or partially were initially closed on a temporary basis.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Data is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many accident and emergency departments have closed in (1) Lancashire, and (2) England, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To ensure NHS services can best meet the needs of their local population and ensure the most efficient and safe use of the available resources during the response to COVID-19, it has been necessary to implement some temporary service changes. These changes will be kept under review during the period of the pandemic and services will be reinstated at an appropriate future juncture.
The accident and emergency department at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital has been temporarily modified to provide an urgent care level service. This change is to facilitate the treatment of acutely ill COVID-19 patients on a single site, at the Royal Preston Hospital. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care was informed of this change on 25 March 2020.
In Lancashire, in addition to the change at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, paediatric accident and emergency services are temporarily closed overnight at Ormskirk Hospital. NHS England and NHS Improvement have stated that there have been no further temporary closures of accident and emergency services in England during this time.
Asked by: Caroline Ansell (Conservative - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of NHS GP walk-in centre closures on (a) demand on (i) hospital accident and emergency departments, (ii) ambulance services and (iii) nearby GP practices and (b) access to healthcare for tourists, temporary students, office workers, rough sleepers and other patients with enhanced needs for walk-in treatment in town centres; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Department does not hold a recent definitive figure for the number of walk-in-centres (WiCs) nationally. WiCs were developed locally and over time the nomenclature for them and the services they offer have overlapped with other services such as Minor Injury Units and Urgent Care Centres.
Due to this difficulty in specifically identifying WiCs, it is not possible to identify the number of closures. Because WICs are managed locally, information on them, as well on demand for and access to services across local health services, is not held centrally.
As WiCs were developed locally, their effectiveness and cost effectiveness is a local issue. However, a limited study was undertaken by Monitor, the organisation formerly responsible for ensuring healthcare provision in NHS England, and now part of NHS Improvement. This covered the period 2010-13 and consulted patients, walk-in centre providers, general practitioners, commissioners and other stakeholders in the sector.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of closures of Accident and Emergency departments in hospitals in rural areas on (1) the size of the areas that ambulance services have to cover, (2) the response times for ambulance services, and (3) the number of ambulances and crew required.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The accident and emergency (A&E) department at the Friarage Hospital is not closing but transforming into a 24 hours, seven days a week urgent treatment centre (UTC) in line with clinical guidance. The UTC will be able to see all patients with minor illnesses and minor injuries.
It is the responsibility of local National Health Service organisations, when making decisions on service changes, to fully consider any impact on patients. Commissioners also have to consider any impact on health inequalities, including those in rural areas, and the NHS Long Term Plan commits to developing a delivery model for small rural acute hospitals to ensure sustainable and efficient service delivery.
However, the vast majority of the services at the Friarage Hospital will remain unchanged with 89% of patients unaffected by these changes. Patients with serious medical conditions, such as those suffering from a stroke, heart attack and/or trauma already go directly to James Cook University Hospital.
There are robust plans in place to ensure patient safety. In future, a medical consultant will review all emergency cases prior to arrival, via a telephone triage with the ambulance team or general practitioner. More seriously ill patients will be diverted to appropriate hospital sites, typically James Cook or Darlington Memorial. This decision will be based on patient need and the patient’s home location. Where appropriate, patients will be returned to the Friarage once their condition has improved, for the remainder of their hospital stay.
Neither the Department nor NHS England have conducted an assessment of the impact of closures of A&E departments on ambulance services in rural areas.
Asked by: Baroness Masham of Ilton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure patient safety in rural North Yorkshire following the closure of the Accident and Emergency department of the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The accident and emergency (A&E) department at the Friarage Hospital is not closing but transforming into a 24 hours, seven days a week urgent treatment centre (UTC) in line with clinical guidance. The UTC will be able to see all patients with minor illnesses and minor injuries.
It is the responsibility of local National Health Service organisations, when making decisions on service changes, to fully consider any impact on patients. Commissioners also have to consider any impact on health inequalities, including those in rural areas, and the NHS Long Term Plan commits to developing a delivery model for small rural acute hospitals to ensure sustainable and efficient service delivery.
However, the vast majority of the services at the Friarage Hospital will remain unchanged with 89% of patients unaffected by these changes. Patients with serious medical conditions, such as those suffering from a stroke, heart attack and/or trauma already go directly to James Cook University Hospital.
There are robust plans in place to ensure patient safety. In future, a medical consultant will review all emergency cases prior to arrival, via a telephone triage with the ambulance team or general practitioner. More seriously ill patients will be diverted to appropriate hospital sites, typically James Cook or Darlington Memorial. This decision will be based on patient need and the patient’s home location. Where appropriate, patients will be returned to the Friarage once their condition has improved, for the remainder of their hospital stay.
Neither the Department nor NHS England have conducted an assessment of the impact of closures of A&E departments on ambulance services in rural areas.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) names, (b) postcodes and (c) year of closure of the A&Es that closed between 2010 and 2018.
Answered by Steve Barclay
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Yvette Cooper (Labour - Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many A&E units closed in each constituency in each year between 2010 and 2016.
Answered by Steve Barclay
Changes to the local NHS services are a matter for the local National Health Service, and form part of the commissioning process. This includes working with local people and with clinicians to ensure that changes are in the best interests of patients. Records of this activity are not held centrally.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he or Ministers of his Department plans to meet NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission to discuss accident and emergency closures in the next four weeks.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department’s Ministers hold regular meetings with NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission to discuss a range of issues.
The redesign and delivery of front-line health services is a matter for the local National Health Service – clinically led by front line NHS organisations and clinicians who are closest to the needs of communities and therefore best-placed to make decisions in the interests of their patients.
All reconfiguration proposals are assured by NHS England taking into account the four reconfiguration tests as mandated by the Government in 2010, and which all local reconfiguration plans should demonstrate:
- support from general practitioner commissioners;
- strengthened public and patient engagements;
- clarity on the clinical evidence base; and
- support for patient choice.