Mid Derbyshire MP, Pauline Latham OBE, today queried how the Government was coping with the mounting pressure on A&E departments across the UK, and whether they would place GPs in hospitals to help cope with the situation and prioritise the different levels of care.
Speaking in Health Questions today in the House of Commons Mrs Latham asked:
‘Will the Secretary of State consider putting a GP in every A&E department so that they can additionally triage patients who are not so ill and advise them to go home and see their own GP on another occasion’?
In response, Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, answered:
‘My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Actually, the policy is that all A&Es, where space is available, should do that. The hospitals that do it have by far the most successful results—not least Luton and Dunstable, which has pioneered that model’.