§ Mr. David YoungTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to implement full public disclosure by trusts of(a) ambulance waiting times and (b) hospital bed shortages.
§ Mr. SackvilleInformation on ambulance response times is published centrally by the Department in "Patient Transport Services—Summary information for KA 34: England", copies of which are available in the Library.
Information on bed availability is published in "Bed Availability for England", copies of which are also available in the Library. There are no plans to extend this information. Trusts must aim to meet current needs, while demand for beds is unpredictable.
The new patients charter for England introduced a fresh standard that from 1 April 1995 patients who need to be admitted to hospital through accident and emergency departments will be given a bed within three hours to four hours, improving to two hours from 1 April 1996. All health authorities will be required to monitor the performance of their provider hospitals in meeting the new standard and publish local information about their achievements in their annual reports.