Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the budget of the East of England Ambulance Service has been increased to account for the additional workload of the Essex Success Regime hospital reconfiguration proposals.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS England has advised that the Mid and South Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership has always accepted that the possibility of consolidating specialist services across three hospitals could require additional ambulance capacity potentially requiring some capital investment and an increase in revenue per annum.
The modelling that has been done to date in partnership with East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust was designed to give an indication of any potential increase so that this may be built in to the developing pre-consultation business case. Clinicians are currently working on more detailed proposals for specific service areas.
Any required investments will be agreed by clinical commissioners and subsequently assured by NHS England and other regulators. Any increase in investment would be agreed in the usual way through the annual contract for ambulance services.
Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information he holds on what discussions have taken place between the leadership of the East of England Ambulance Service and their counterparts in the Essex Success Regime on the availability of ambulances to support the Success Regime's proposals for hospital reconfiguration.
Answered by Philip Dunne
East of England Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust has been involved at all stages of discussion and consultation about the configuration of emergency care services in Mid and South Essex.
Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many emergency ambulances the East of England Ambulance Service has in its fleet; and how many of those ambulances are normally based in Essex.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS Improvement advises that there are 324 ambulances in East of England Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust’s fleet, of which 68 are normally based in Essex.
Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information he holds on the estimated travel time for an emergency ambulance travelling from Southend Hospital to Basildon Hospital on (a) a non-emergency journey and (b) an emergency blue light run.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Department does not hold this type of information, however we understand that there is work ongoing to model journey times across the region.