Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 31 March 2022.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times temporary external structures have been deployed outside emergency departments in England in each of the last five years.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department’s policy is on the use of temporary external structures outside emergency departments to alleviate pressures during the handover from ambulances.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risk to patient safety of the use of temporary external structures outside of emergency departments to alleviate pressures from ambulance handovers.
Data on the number of occasions temporary external structures have been deployed is not held centrally. The Department does not maintain a policy on the use of temporary external structures outside emergency departments and no formal assessment has been made of the potential risk to patient safety of the use of these structures.
NHS England and NHS Improvement advise that the use of such structures is a local decision. Local systems should balance patient safety risks at times of heightened pressure, such as those caused by handover delays and take the necessary steps to mitigate those.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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