Prime Minister's Questions, factchecked

“One in six Accident and Emergency units in England are set to be closed or downgraded.” Jeremy Corbyn, 8 February 2017 Research has identified one in six A&E units which could be closed or downgraded—but it’s more speculative than set in stone at this stage. And the loss of some units won’t represent an equivalent loss in service provision, in every case. Mr Corbyn is referring to analysis from the Health Service Journal, published earlier this week. It identified 24 major A&E units that could be downgraded or closed altogether in the next four years—about 15% of departments across the country. The figure is mostly based on analysing public plans and statements from NHS trusts across the country. But not all of these are confirmed closure or downgrade plans. Of the 24, four will be downgraded and three will be closed. The rest have plans that aren’t finalised or are up for consultation. The researchers say these units could be downgraded or closed, but could equally be kept or upgraded. In the case of City Hospital and Sandwell and District General Hospital in Birmingham, the planned closures are set to be replaced by a new hospital anyway. So we don’t necessarily know how services will actually be affected by these changes.

“He refers specifically to Accident and Emergency. What is our response on Accident and Emergency? We see 600 more A&E consultants, 1,500 more A&E doctors, and 2,000 more paramedics.” Theresa May, 8 February 2017 These figures are all roughly correct, comparing to 2010 each time, although departments have still been facing increased pressures to cope with demand. 12,500 paramedics worked in the NHS in October last year, the latest figures. At the same point in 2010 it was about 10,300—so about the same size increase the Prime Minister is referring to. Similarly you’d find over 1,600 A&E consultants at the moment and 1,050 back in 2010, not far off the 600 increase being quoted. In total about 6,350 doctors of all grades work in emergency medicine now compared to 5,050 at the same time back in 2010. That’s about 1,300 more, so a little less than Mrs May claims. It’s still the case that A&E units across the country are facing severe pressures to meet rising demand, and experts from the King’s Fund have warned in the past that departments still face difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. Our staffing figures use full-time equivalent counts.