Written question asked by John Robertson (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 January 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 13 January 2015 (named day). It was answered by Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 13 January 2015 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of social care budget changes on A&E attendances.

Answer: There has been no assessment made of the effect of social care budget changes on accident and emergency (A&E) attendances. However, the Government has legislated to establish the Better Care Fund from 2015-16 to provide better integrated care. One of the conditions of the Better Care Fund is to improve the delivery of health and social care by preventing people reaching crisis point, and to reduce the quantity of non-elective admissions to acute care, which may serve to ease the pressures on A&E departments.

Secondary information