Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan and NHS Planning Guidance commitments for 2019-20, what progress his Department has made against the commitment to ensure England is covered by a 24/7 Integrated Urgent Care Service, accessible via NHS 111 or online; and if he will make a statement.

As set out in the Long Term Plan an Implementation Framework will be published shortly which will set out the next steps the National Health Service will take to deliver the commitments and the national activity and support available to systems. The Implementation Framework will assist local health systems, who will build on the engagement already taking place across the country, in developing their strategic Long Term Plan implementation plan over the summer. NHS England and Improvement will then publish a national implementation plan in the autumn.

NHS England introduced the Integrated Urgent Care (IUC) service specification in August 2017. The service specification detailed what an integrated urgent care system could look like for commissioning purposes.

NHS England has worked through regional colleagues, as well as directly with commissioners and providers to ensure the IUC service specification is implemented via local procurement and contract variations. NHS England also holds regular meetings and events to share best practice and respond to questions around IUC.