§ Mr. MillsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he made of the proposals by Birmingham and Solihull hospital trust for ambulance transport to Heartlands hospital from local villages with special reference to Meriden, Hockley Heath, Knowle Dorridge, Hamden in Arden, Cheswick green and Balsam common in the event of a medical emergency when752W making his recent statement on the provision of 24-hour accident and emergency services at Solihull hospital; and if he will make a statement; 140264]
(2) what assessment he has made of Solihull health authority's proposals for 24-hour accident and emergency services; [40226]
(3) what assessment he made of the provision of bus services from remote villages to Birmingham Heartlands trust when he made his decision to merge Birmingham Heartlands hospital with Solihull hospital; and if he will make a statement. [40233]
§ Mr. HoramProvision of accident and emergency services were included in the consultation document, "Difficult Choices", which was considered when making the decision to approve the merger of Birmingham Heartlands hospital and Solihull hospital. Issues surrounding patient access were raised during consultation on the formal merger proposal.
Since the merger took place consultant cover has improved in the Solihull accident and emergency department—from 0.5 whole-time posts to two—and the number of patients treated locally at the Solihull site is increasing with plans to treat an additional 16,000 patients at the hospital in the coming year.