Accident and Emergency Departments Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Barbara Keeley
Main Page: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)Department Debates - View all Barbara Keeley's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
Accident and Emergency Departments
Barbara Keeley Excerpts(10 years, 8 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)
It appears that the Secretary of State is not listening to the Health Committee, which has looked into the issue. The Chair, the right hon. Member for Charnwood (Mr Dorrell), has made it clear that he does not think the 2004 GP contract is to blame for these issues, but we found out that only 16% of hospital trusts have the recommended level of emergency consultants, and we noted that nearly £2 billion has been taken out of adult social care. When will the Secretary of State deal with the staffing cuts and budget issues that are actually causing the A and E crisis?
Mr Hunt
My right hon. Friend said to the House that he largely agreed with the changes that I wanted to make to the GP contract. I always listen very carefully to what the Select Committee says, but I point out to the hon. Lady what Professor Keith Willett, who is the person at NHS England who is in charge of all A and E departments, said. He said that between 15% and 30% of the people attending A and E departments could be looked after by primary care. If we ignore that—I am afraid that what Labour did in 2004 has made the problem a great deal worse—we will not solve the underlying problems with A and E.