Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 20 January 2026.
Alison Griffiths
Conservative, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of accident and emergency capacity and performance at NHS trusts in West Sussex; and what support is being provided to those trusts to manage current levels of demand.
Karin Smyth
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. However, we acknowledge that accident and emergency care performance has not consistently met expectations in recent years, and we are taking serious steps to address this.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, commits to at least 78% of accident and emergency patients being admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours by March 2026.
We are putting significant funding into expanding urgent and emergency service access for those most in need, including new Urgent Treatment Centres and Same Day Emergency Care facilities. This will mean 800,000 fewer accident and emergency patients waiting over four hours this year.
In July 2025, we published our 10-Year Health Plan which commits to reducing accident and emergency waiting times in the longer-term, shifting care into the community with Neighbourhood Health Services.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
