§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to ensure that funding, made available to ease the burdens in accident and emergency departments, is reaching the front-line to(a) allow innovative schemes to continue and (b) give all accident and emergency departments the opportunity to introduce new ways of working. [79267]
§ Jacqui SmithTheReforming Emergency Care strategy was launched in October 2001, supported by £118 million investment, to improve the local organisation of emergency services to ensure that patients get a consistent and appropriate response based on national clinical standards. The strategy will be delivered through the formation of emergency care networks (ECNs), which will co-ordinate all aspects of local emergency care through the local leadership of emergency care leads (ECLs) appointed in all acute trusts and primary care trusts.
The Government places a very high priority on improving delivery of emergency care. The NHS Plan set challenging targets for strategic health authorities and trusts to cut waiting times in accident and emergency (A&E). The new devolved funding arrangements mean that local managers are able to target funding, in line with national guidelines, on local areas of need. Local managers and clinicians are being supported to develop and maintain innovative ways of delivering care through the Modernisation Agency emergency services collaborative, launched on 8 October 2002. The first wave of the collaborative is now underway and by September 2004, every trust with an A&E in England will have completed the programme.