Accident and Emergency Waiting Times

This Government inherited an intolerable situation in A&E, where over a decade of Tory failures left patients waiting in pain. We are doing the hard work needed to start repairing that damage. Our new urgent and emergency care plan is backed by nearly £450 million, which will mean 800,000 fewer A&E patients waiting more than four hours this year, new urgent treatment centres, mental health crisis centres and almost 400 replacement ambulances. Those are just some of the steps that we are taking to rebuild our national health service.

I welcome the progress this UK Labour Government have made in reducing A&E waits in England. That sadly contrasts with a crisis in Scotland, where recent figures revealed 2,472 Scots waited over eight hours to be seen. Jackie Baillie rightly warned that

“Lives are being put at risk”

under the SNP, and it has been years since the Scottish Government last met any of their targets. Does the Secretary of State agree that only Labour in Westminster and in Holyrood has a serious plan to back NHS staff and cut waiting times?

I agree with my hon. Friend. There is no sign of the SNP Members this morning. They have obviously clocked off for the summer—or maybe they are just sparing their blushes, because the party has been in power for close to two decades in Scotland and has been steadily driving the NHS into the ground. The chair of BMA Scotland has said,

“the NHS is dying before our eyes”

with the SNP. It is on its fifth NHS recovery plan in less than four years. Scotland needs a new direction with a Scottish Labour Government. Working in partnership, we will fix the NHS across the United Kingdom and make it fit for the future.

One of my first visits after being elected last year was to the A&E department at the William Harvey hospital in my constituency, where 19 patients were being treated in the corridors and others faced long waits for treatment. I therefore welcome the progress that has been made so far on reducing A&E waiting times. However, too many people end up at A&Es like the one at the William Harvey because they have no other option. What are the Government doing to increase care options in local communities, including the use of virtual wards to ensure that more people are treated closer to home and that patients in A&E are those in an emergency?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is unacceptable that corridor care became the norm under the Conservatives. We will not accept it as normal; it is not acceptable. Ahead of this winter, we will require local NHS systems to develop and test plans to significantly increase the number of people receiving urgent care services outside hospital, including more paramedic-led care in the community, more patients seen by urgent community response teams, and better use of virtual wards. Together, we will improve our emergency services and make sure that people get the right care in the right place and at the right time.

The Government have spoken passionately about how minor injuries units, such as the one at Mount Vernon hospital in my constituency, help to take the pressure off A&E by diverting less urgent cases for treatment elsewhere. I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his time for a brief discussion about that last week. Will he now respond to the 25,000 local people and my constituency neighbours, including the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), who are joining my campaign to save the minor injuries unit? Will he intervene with the Hillingdon hospitals NHS foundation trust to prevent the unit’s closure?

Configuration of services is a matter for local commissioners. However, let me take this opportunity to reassure the hon. Gentleman that I have taken into account representations received from my right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), as well as his letter. I apologise to him for the delay in response, but I assure him that he will get one.

In June, just 66% of patients admitted to Woking’s local A&E at St Peter’s hospital were seen within four hours. That is way below both the national target and the national average of 76%. Will the Secretary of State agree to investigate that to find out why my constituents of Woking are facing such lengthy and unreasonable waiting times?

As the hon. Gentleman knows, urgent and emergency care services have been struggling right across the country, but he is right to identify where there are serious and significant variations in performance. One of the focuses of this Government is to try to reduce unwarranted variation from one NHS provider to another, so that we get consistently good standards of care across the country. I commit to write to him to further explain why there are particular challenges in his area and what we can do together to help resolve them.

I call the shadow Minister.

Respiratory syncytial virus—RSV—is a common reason for attendance at A&E and admission to hospital among older people, and I have raised this repeatedly. Last week, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended that the RSV vaccine programme should be extended to the over-80s and those living in adult residential care homes. Can the Minister confirm that these vaccines will be available in time for this winter season?

I can certainly reassure the shadow Minister on this. The Minister for Public Health has already accepted that recommendation and is working at pace on implementation. May I wish the hon. Lady well in the Opposition reshuffle?