Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce pressure on ICU wards in hospitals.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are ensuring that system leaders, regional teams, providers and national teams are collaborating on critical care services. A national adult critical care programme has been established including areas such as workforce, capacity, transfer, data and service standards. Mutual aid mechanisms and a dedicated adult critical care transfer team have been established to manage patient flow and ensure the safe transfer of patients across providers networks.