Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contact NHS England had with the Renal Association and the British Renal Society on commissioning of dialysis services before putting forward its proposals to devolve commissioning to clinical commissioning groups.

NHS England has advised that there was contact between NHS England and stakeholder groups, including the Renal Association (RA) and the British Renal Society (BRS), prior to the proposals being made.

NHS England is in dialogue with key stakeholders about both the opportunities and challenges of transferring responsibility for renal services. The head of the Specialised Services Task Force in NHS England recently met stakeholders from renal service representative groups (including RA and BRS) and heard their concerns directly.

NHS England has recently established a Task & Finish group through the NHS Commissioning Assembly. This group comprises representatives from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS England, and will oversee the development and delivery of proposals for commissioning of specialised services in 2015-16 and beyond.

Within this Task & Finish group, a sub-group will be responsible for planning and managing the transition process for services that are being transferred from national to CCG commissioning (including renal dialysis) from 1 April 2015.