In March this year the Public Accounts Committee reported that the first year of the NHS’ three year plan to recover its services was already falling short.
People who need urgent or unplanned medical care can seek NHS help from several different services depending on the nature and severity of the issue. This includes advice from the NHS website, GPs, 111, 999, ambulance services and A&E departments.
The NHS has a long-standing ambition to improve access to urgent and unplanned services and set out its aims to reduce pressure on emergency services in its 2019 Long-Term Plan. However, many of these services are under severe strain, exacerbated by the pandemic.
Based on the NAO investigation into Access to urgent and emergency care, the Committee will question senior officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England – including its Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard - on the current state of the accessibility of urgent and unplanned services, their main operational constraints and plans to address those challenges.
If you have evidence on this issue, please submit it here by 23:59 on Wednesday 21 June 2023.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.