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A&E should cope this winter, promises health secretary | A&E should cope this winter, promises health secretary |
(35 minutes later) | |
A&E units in England should be able to meet their waiting time targets this winter, the health secretary says. | |
Jeremy Hunt gave the assurance as he set out a package of short term and long term measures to tackle the growing pressures in the system. | Jeremy Hunt gave the assurance as he set out a package of short term and long term measures to tackle the growing pressures in the system. |
It includes an extra £500m over the next two winters - something announced earlier this summer. | It includes an extra £500m over the next two winters - something announced earlier this summer. |
But Labour said he was setting out "half-baked plans" that were just "too little, too late". | |
The £500m will be shared by 53 hospital trusts and is dependent on 75% of their staff being vaccinated against flu. | |
This has always an ongoing problem for the NHS - on average less than half of staff get the jabs. | |
Mr Hunt said it will be "tough" but it was "entirely possible" that last winter's problems - when A&E missed its four-hour waiting time target - could be avoided this year. | |
Meanwhile, he said work on longer term fixes for integrating social care with the NHS and for redesigning the whole urgent and emergency care system functions - from ambulances and telephone advice to A&E units - would continue. | |
This will start with care for vulnerable older patients with complex health problems. | This will start with care for vulnerable older patients with complex health problems. |
Elderly people often feel there is no reliable alternative to hospital, says Mr Hunt. | Elderly people often feel there is no reliable alternative to hospital, says Mr Hunt. |
But from 2014 they will get a named GP to coordinate their care. | |
Next year will also see the start of "integrated care" pilots. | |
These will include schemes that shift care out of hospitals and into the community by helping these patients manage their increasingly complex conditions. | |
It will require joint working between social care, district nursing and GPs. | |
A total of £3.8bn has been set aside from 2015 to roll this out across the country. | |
That is also the target date for the redesign of the urgent and emergency care system. | |
NHS Medical Director Prof Sir Bruce Keogh is leading that review. | |
More detail is expected in autumn, but Sir Bruce said it was looking at issues such as seven-day working and an increased role for ambulances in treating and assessing patients. | |
"In the long-term, I want a 24/7 service which recognises patients as individuals and looks out for them proactively," Mr Hunt added. | |
But Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham told the House of Commons the plans were "half-baked". | |
"Too little, too late. Not good enough on an issue of huge importance." |