Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

NHS: Winter Pressures

Tuesday 23 January 2024 · 5 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Ministerial Department reported that ambulance response times for category 2 emergency incidents in Simon Lightwood's local area have improved by over 30 minutes compared to last year.
  • Steve Brine raised concerns about the lack of emphasis on reducing waiting lists and the British Medical Association ballot on consultants' action closing, which impacts the Prime Minister's pledge.
  • Karin Smyth highlighted that despite preparation starting in January, 54% of A&E departments were rated inadequate or needing improvement, questioning what will be done differently to avoid another winter crisis.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Simon Lightwood Labour (Co-op) Wakefield and Rothwell
NHS
Context

The NHS is facing significant pressure in winter 2023-24, with concerns about hospital bed shortages and long waiting times.

Question

What steps her Department is taking to help reduce pressure on NHS services in winter 2023-24. I am sure the caveat to that was the word “shortly”. I have had constituents contact me in desperation regarding delays at Pinderfields Hospital in my constituency. They tell me they have waited hours in emergency care this winter for routine blood tests—literally all day in some cases—even while in extremely poor health.

Answer from Victoria Atkins

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is a fair man, and that, being so, he will point out to his constituents, when they call him with their issues, that ambulance response times for category 2 emergency incidents in his local area have in fact been over 30 minutes faster than last year. However, we accept of course that this is a two-year plan and will take time to meet our full ambitions. Interestingly, the latest figures show that we have provided £6.9 million from the community diagnostic centres fund for the development of a community diagnostic centre at Wakefield.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not address whether long waiting times are an indictment of Conservative mismanagement

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Q2 Simon Lightwood Labour (Co-op) Wakefield and Rothwell
NHS
Context

The NHS is facing significant pressure in winter 2023-24, with concerns about hospital bed shortages and long waiting times.

Question

What steps her Department is taking to help reduce pressure on NHS services in winter 2023-24. I am sure the caveat to that was the word “shortly”. I have had constituents contact me in desperation regarding delays at Pinderfields Hospital in my constituency. They tell me they have waited hours in emergency care this winter for routine blood tests—literally all day in some cases—even while in extremely poor health.

Answer from Victoria Atkins

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is a fair man, and that, being so, he will point out to his constituents, when they call him with their issues, that ambulance response times for category 2 emergency incidents in his local area have in fact been over 30 minutes faster than last year. However, we accept of course that this is a two-year plan and will take time to meet our full ambitions. Interestingly, the latest figures show that we have provided £6.9 million from the community diagnostic centres fund for the development of a community diagnostic centre at Wakefield.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not address what to say to constituents suffering right now

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Q3 Steve Brine Con
NHS
Context

The NHS is facing significant pressure in winter 2023-24, with concerns about hospital bed shortages and long waiting times. There are ongoing disputes among doctors.

Question

So far, we have heard very little mention in these 20 minutes of the biggest headache facing trusts, integrated care boards, patients and, of course, the Prime Minister's pledge to cut the waiting lists further. Given that the British Medical Association ballot on consultants' action closes today, and that the dispute among doctors in training continues, can the Secretary of State update the House on her message to those voting today, and on where we are in wider industrial disputes?

Answer from Victoria Atkins

My hon. Friend is right to point out that we are in the final few hours of the consultants' ballot on the pay reform programme that we have offered the British Medical Association. I very much hope that consultants will feel able to support that programme, because it is about bringing together the frankly quite bureaucratic system that they have to deal with at the moment, so that they are assessed in a shorter time with less bother and paperwork, while respecting their need to train and keep up their education and supporting professional activities commitments. I hope that they will agree with us on that. As I have said to the junior doctors committee from this Dispatch Box, should they return with reasonable expectations, we will, of course, reopen negotiations.

Answered
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Q4 Karin Smyth Lab Bristol South
NHS
Context

The NHS is facing significant pressure in winter 2023-24, with concerns about hospital bed shortages and long waiting times. There are questions about the effectiveness of preparations.

Question

The Secretary of State has said that preparation for winter started last January, but 54% of A&E departments were still rated inadequate or needing improvement in December, exacerbating the winter crisis. What will she do differently this year to ensure that we do not have another winter crisis in 2024-25?

Answer from Victoria Atkins

Again, the plan that we laid out last year is having a real impact at local level on the services being deployed through our accident and emergency services. We have seen discharge rates improving, for example. We appreciate that there can be local differences, but the importance that we put on maintaining that flow through hospitals is critical to ensuring that the waiting lists and waiting times that the hon. Lady describes are reduced.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not address what will be done differently this year

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Q5 Amy Callaghan
Immigration NHS
Context

The NHS is facing significant pressure in winter 2023-24, with concerns about hospital bed shortages and long waiting times. There are also issues with workforce shortages due to new immigration policies.

Question

We cannot discuss winter pressures in the NHS without acknowledging workforce shortages. The Secretary of State is having to contend with new immigration policies from her Cabinet colleagues that prevent dependants from coming to the UK, meaning that we are asking people to come and care for our loved ones while they leave behind theirs. I imagine that she is frustrated that that is now another barrier to recruiting staff to our health and care sectors. Has she expressed those frustrations to her Cabinet colleagues?

Answer from Victoria Atkins

I genuinely want to work with the Scottish Government, because I am troubled, to put it bluntly, that Scotland has some of the worst health outcomes in western Europe. It has the worst level of drug death rates in Europe, the highest alcohol death rates in 14 years, and there was a fall in life expectancy for three years in a row. We offered to allow Scottish patients to receive lifesaving operations in England, but sadly, that offer has been declined.

How: Changed Subject Entirely

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