Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps will be taken at emergency departments to ensure that patients are not waiting in ambulances during periods of extreme heat; and for what reason those measures are not in place permanently.

The ‘Heatwave Plan for England’ and National Health Service trusts’ hot weather plans set out the existing measures in place. In addition, NHS England wrote to all NHS trusts to set out further action needed to ensure ambulances are not held for longer than 30 minutes during patient handovers. This includes moving patients awaiting an inpatient bed from emergency departments to maintain capacity. Decisions on the specific implementation of these actions are made by individual NHS trusts.