Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the consequences are of non-adherence to NHS England’s Service Specifications for different treatments and conditions.
NHS England, together with integrated care boards when a specialised service is commissioned jointly in 2023/24, is responsible for assessing compliance with service specifications.
Actions resulting from non-compliance will vary depending on the reasons for and nature of non-compliance, as well as the location and availability of alternative service provision. Examples of typical actions currently taken forward by NHS England include enhanced reporting and monitoring requirements; the agreement of an improvement plan; agreeing mitigations which can be put in place whilst working towards compliance or in a small number of cases, the de-commissioning of the service at a specific provider.