Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust have access to sufficient PPE so that all drivers have the quantities they require when attending call-outs.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are working around the clock to give the social care sector and wider National Health Service the equipment and support they need to tackle this outbreak. We have delivered over 1 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE) across the health and social care system within England.
The full weight of the Government is behind this effort and we are working closely with industry, social care providers, the NHS, and the armed forces to ensure the right equipment continues to be delivered.
The United Kingdom Government and devolved administrations have published clear guidance on the recommended PPE for different types of ambulance staff.
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: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when was the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care informed of the decision to close the accident and emergency Department at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.
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: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 5 December (HL3203), why the percentage of ambulances arriving within the target response time of the London Ambulance Service in the City of Westminster is below 70 per cent.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We understand that London Ambulance Service NHS Trust is facing the same challenges in responding to calls within the City of Westminster that it is facing across the capital. This year the service has been experiencing a significant increase in demand whilst at the same time having to contend with a high level of frontline staff vacancies.
To enable it to manage the increasing pressure on the service, the Trust has launched a major national and international recruitment campaign to ensure it fills the vacancies that it is currently carrying.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the current London Ambulance Service response times to life-threatening incidents (category A calls) within the City of Westminster.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The performance standard for ambulance trusts responding to Category A calls is that an ambulance resource should arrive within eight minutes of the call 75% of the time.
We understand that this year to date (1 April 2014 -28 November 2014) the London Ambulance Service has achieved a response rate to ‘category A’ calls in Westminster of 69.58%.
We are providing extra support to the National Health Service – including £50 million to help ambulance trusts with additional demand and help them to return to meeting the standard as quickly as possible.