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Access to urgent and emergency care

Inquiry

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. 

 

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was Wednesday 21 June 2023.

Reports, special reports and government responses

View all reports and responses
Seventy-Third Report - Access to urgent and emergency care
Inquiry Access to urgent and emergency care
HC 1336
Report
Response to this report
Correspondence from Sarah-Jane Marsh, National Director for integrated Urgent and Emergency Care, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, NHS England, re Seventy-third report of Session 2022-23, Access to urgent and emergency care – follow up letter, dated 16 May 2024
HC 1336
Correspondence
Response to this report
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Seventy-third report from Session 2022-23
HC 1336
Government Response
Correspondence from Sarah Jane Marsh, National Director for integrated Urgent and Emergency Care Deputy Chief Operating Officer, NHS England, re access to urgent and unplanned care, dated 19 July 2023
Inquiry Access to urgent and emergency care
Correspondence
Correspondence from Matthew Style, Director General, NHS Policy and Performance, Department for Health, and Social Care, re Access to Urgent and Emergency Care, dated 17 July 2023
Inquiry Access to urgent and emergency care
Correspondence

Oral evidence transcripts

View all oral evidence transcripts
3 July 2023
Inquiry Access to urgent and emergency care
Witnesses Department of Health and Social Care, Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, NHS England, and NHS England
Oral Evidence
Stroke Association (AUEC0001)
Ms Molly McCarthy (PhD Candidate at Liverpool John Moores Univeristy), Dr Jason McIntyre, Professor Rajan Nathan, Dr Emma Ashworth, and Dr Pooja Saini (AUEC0002)
NHS Providers (AUEC0003)

Contact us

  • Email: pubaccom@parliament.uk
  • Phone: 020 7219 8480 (strictly media enquiries only – contact us via our email for general enquiries)
  • Address: Public Accounts Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA