HC Deb 11 December 2002 vol 396 c384W
Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the change in the amount of time spent by ambulance crews in accident and emergency departments as a result of the requirement to hand over patient records personally to a member of the hospital staff. [85794]

Mr. Lammy

There is no absolute requirement for ambulance crews to hand over patient records personally to a member of hospital staff.

It is considered good practice for ambulance crews to provide information to nursing or medical staff when handing over a patient. While this does add to the time that the ambulance crew spend at hospital it is vital to patient safety and there is no reason why it should cause significant delays.