To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the emergency healthcare needs of areas of national industrial and strategic importance. (117168)

It is a matter for the local national health service to ensure that there is appropriate provision of urgent and emergency care services to meet people’s needs. In planning local provision of urgent and emergency care services, health communities are expected to observe the general principle that all urgent and emergency care should be delivered as close to home as is compatible with clinical safety. There is a requirement for trusts to involve and consult the public on the planning for provision of health services.