Rishi Sunak meets hospital and ambulance colleagues at North Tees Hospital
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Steve Barclay and NHS England CEO Amanda Pritchard were in the North East today to announce that frontline capacity will be boosted by 800 new ambulances, including 100 specialist mental health vehicles, and 5,000 more hospital beds backed by a £1 billion dedicated fund.
Staff from NEAS greeted the ministerial visit at North Tees Hospital this morning and attended a Q&A session later in Darlington.
Paul Elstob, duty officer at North East Ambulance Service was there to greet the party at North Tees hospital. He said, “North Tees hospital has a great process for managing urgent and emergency patients at a centralised point of access, which was an effective example to showcase as a model of good practice this morning. It was great to see the North East host discussion about the new plans today – we are hopeful that any change will improve working conditions in urgent and emergency care and enable us to offer a better service for our patients.”
More information about the government’s plan to help recover urgent and emergency care services, reduce waiting times, and improve patient experience is available at: NHS England » Major plan to recover urgent and emergency care services.
Daren Mochrie QAM, Chair of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, welcomed the plan, “The impact of pressures across urgent and emergency care is being acutely felt by NHS ambulance services, their patients and their employees, and the renewed effort and focus outlined in NHS England’s recovery plan is welcomed, alongside a commitment to boost frontline capacity for our member trusts.”