Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of whether discharge times at hospitals operated by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust are contributing to longer ambulance handover times.

There has been no direct assessment of the impact of discharge times at hospitals operated by the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust on ambulance handover times. We are taking a whole pathway approach to improving accident and emergency performance, as we know that bottlenecks in one part of the system can cause delays elsewhere.

The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework sets out a clear trajectory to improve urgent and emergency care performance year-on-year toward the constitutional standard, reducing long waits and improving patient experience. This will be supported by investment in staff, digital triage, and community urgent care.

The plan focuses on practical steps such as expanding urgent treatment centres, improving patient flow, and reducing 12-hour waits, to make emergency departments safer and more efficient. While the constitutional standard remains our ambition, the framework prioritises sustainable progress, ensuring patients are seen more quickly and care is delivered closer to home.

We have introduced a maximum 45-minute standard for ambulance handovers through the Urgent and emergency care plan 2025/26, supported by the Medium-Term Planning Framework for 2026/27 to 2028/29. This ensures patients are transferred to hospital care more quickly and frees up ambulance crews for urgent calls.