Increase Social Care Spending — Ensure Adequate Staffing in Hospitals — 5 Jun 2013 at 18:50

The majority of MPs voted against spending £1.2 billion to support social care in 2013-14 and 2014-15 paid for by a 2012-13 Department of Health underspend and against ensuring adequate staffing levels at every hospital in England.

The motion rejected in this vote was:

• That this House
• is concerned about the growing pressure on Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments across the country over recent months;
• notes this week’s report from the King’s Fund which concludes that waiting times in A&E recently hit a nine-year high;
• further notes that in the Labour Government’s last year in office 98 per cent of patients were seen within four hours;
• believes that a combination of factors lies behind the extra pressure on hospitals but that severe cuts to social care budgets are one of the most significant causes;
• is further concerned that one in three hospitals in England say they do not have sufficient staffing levels to deal safely with demand on services;
• further notes that over 4,000 nursing posts have been lost from the NHS since May 2010 and that a recent survey by the Health Service Journal revealed that a further round of front-line clinical job losses are planned for the coming year;
• further believes that the Government has failed to show sufficient urgency in dealing with these problems; and
• calls on the Government to bring forward an urgent plan to ease pressure on hospitals by, amongst other things, re-allocating £1.2 billion of the 2012-13 Department of Health underspend to support social care in 2013-14 and 2014-15, and ensuring adequate staffing levels at every hospital in England.

Debate in Parliament | Source |