- 21/05/2013
- Posted by: Valerie Vaz MP
- Category: News
On Tuesday 22 May 2013, at an Urgent Question debate on Accident and Emergency Departments in Parliament, Valerie asked Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, a question.
Valerie asked:
“The Select Committee on Health heard evidence today from the College of Emergency Medicine about a 50% shortfall in trainee doctors and consultants. On average, Trusts—I was going to say PCTs—spend £500,000 on locums. What does the Secretary of State intend to do about that?”
The Secretary of State for Health replied:
“We certainly intend to address A and E departments’ recruitment issues, which I recognise are one of the causes of the pressure. Over-reliance on locum doctors is not a long-term solution to improving the performance of A and E departments either, so those are both areas that we will be looking at.”
The official transcript of Valerie speaking at the Urgent Question debate on A&Es is available here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130521/debtext/130521-0001.htm#13052151000550