§ Mr. LansleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions his daily winter reporting system has indicated that NHS trusts are experiencing winter pressures; and in how many of those instances he has authorised escalation procedures to respond. [147033]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe first full month of daily winter reporting was December. In December, there were an average of 20 National Health Service trusts (out of a total of 155 trusts with accident and emergency 807W departments) per working day reporting operational problems. Such operational problems include the cancellation of elective operations.
All strategic health authorities (SHAs) have developed robust winter plans, which set out escalation procedures to cope with increased seasonal demand for health services. The decision on whether a trust should put these escalation procedures into operation is not made by ministers or the Department of Health. Instead, the locally agreed escalation procedures are activated by the trusts themselves, in agreement with local primary care trusts and the SHA. Such an approach allows the local NHS to be timely in dealing with pressures and is in line with the Government policy of Shifting the Balance of Power to the local NHS. If required, the Department of Health will support a SHA in its local management of winter.