Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they are supporting the NHS to build additional capacity over winter, in light of pressures including high numbers of patients being admitted with winter viruses.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A range of measures are in place to support National Health Service capacity over winter. NHS winter planning started earlier this year than in previous years. Our Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services set the ambition in to increase the core general and acute (G&A) bed base by 5,000 permanent beds above originally planned 2022/23 levels. A copy of the plan is attached.
The latest published core G&A beds figures show over 3,700 additional core beds are now in place. The peak of total G&A bed numbers, encompassing both core and escalation beds, will depend on demand pressures, including from respiratory illnesses such as flu. This is alongside £200 million of additional funding to ambulance services this year to grow capacity and improve response times.
In July 2023, NHS England wrote to integrated care boards, trusts and primary care networks to set out a national approach to 2023/24 winter planning and the key steps to be taken across all parts of the system to meet the challenges expected from winter pressures.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for (a) the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal and (b) HM the King's Coronation Medal to include ambulance support staff.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual Government departments are responsible for making eligibility decisions regarding the award of each Medal to staff of organisations that fall under their sponsorship. To qualify for the Platinum Jubilee Medal, emergency services personnel were required as part of their conditions of service, to have frontline responsibility for attending the scene of 999 calls. This was consistent with criteria that applied to the Diamond Jubilee Medal.
The same criteria apply to the Coronation Medal. The Coronation Medal will also be awarded to individuals who actively contributed to the official Coronation events. There are no plans to change the eligibility criteria for either Medal.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 6 December (HL563), when the helipad at the Royal Sussex County Hospital was first opened and operational; what the costs were associated with building the helipad; what further works are required for the facility to become fully operational; and when they will be completed.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The helipad has not been opened yet and is not currently operational. The costs associated with building the helipad are currently £14.2 million. There are several activities required to allow the helipad to become operational. These include recruitment and training of the response/fire team, completion of standard operating procedures, and Civil Aviation Authority final inspection and test flights.
In addition, a review of outstanding backlog maintenance issues for the block on which the helipad is located, to ensure any items that may prevent operation of the helipad are resolved, where possible. This includes a review of the external windows. The current planning assumption is that the helipad will be operational during 2024/25.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many calls were responded to by mental health joint response cars in London in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not routinely collected centrally. Ambulance performance data is published monthly by NHS England and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department holds data on the number of coroner-reported deaths linked to ambulance response delays.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Coroner statistics are published by the Ministry of Justice and are available at the following link:
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 9 December 2022 (HL3930), what assessment they have made of the impact of the helipad at Royal Sussex County Hospital on (1) safety relating to the cladding on the tower, and (2) noise.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has undertaken remedial works to fix the issues with the cladding on the helipad at Royal Sussex County Hospital. However, additional surveys have identified concerns with the glazed curtain wall. The trust is discussing these with its building contractor to determine the likely extent of additional remedial works. Noise issues are considered as part of the design of helipads as referenced in the relevant guidance from the Civil Aviation Authority, Standards for helicopter landing areas at hospitals. A copy of the guidance is attached.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental health ambulances are in service in (a) London and (b) England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not routinely collect data on the numbers of mental health ambulances in service across England.
NHS England advises that London Ambulance Service (LAS) have no mental health ambulances in operation. However, six mental health joint response cars are in operation across London. LAS expect twelve mental health ambulances to be in operation next year.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many calls were responded to by mental health ambulances in London in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No calls were responded to by mental health ambulances in London, as London Ambulance Service (LAS) does not currently have mental health ambulances in operation.
The LAS fleet includes six mental health joint response cars which are able to respond to mental health incidents, and LAS expect twelve mental health ambulances to be in operation next year.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 21 April 2023 to Question 180599 on Orthopaedics: Out of Area Treatment, what plans her Department has to support patients who are ineligible for (a) NHS non-emergency transport and (b) the NHS Travel Costs scheme.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) and non-emergency patient transport services (NEPTS) are kept under review by the National Health Service to ensure simplified and streamlined access. The NHS continues to run these schemes in place to support eligible patients with their travel costs.
The most recent NEPTS review from August 2021 is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/urgent-emergency-care/improving-ambulance-services/nepts-review/
The most recent eligibility criteria from 31 May 2022 are available at the following link:
The NEPTS Review also identified the important role the HTCS has in supporting patients on low incomes to access NHS treatment. More information on the HTCS is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/help-with-health-costs/healthcare-travel-costs-scheme-htcs/
The Department has no plans in place at present to look at further schemes.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of closures of community ambulance stations on people living in rural areas.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made by the Department. Decisions on the provision of local services, including the location of ambulance stations, are a matter for local National Health Service commissioners working with NHS providers and must be taken in the best interests of patients and the local population.
Ambulance trusts will regularly meet with their commissioners to discuss performance within their localities including ambulance response times.
We recognise the significant pressure the ambulance service is facing which is why we published our Delivery Plan for Recovering Urgent and Emergency Care Services. This aims to deliver one of the fastest and longest sustained improvements in waiting times in the NHS's history, with an ambition to reduce Category 2 response times to 30 minutes on average this year, with further improvements down towards pre-pandemic levels next year.