Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations he has received on the decision of Liverpool Royal Hospital to reduce treatment for patients located in Wales for urinary tract care; and what steps the Government has taken to mitigate the effect of that decision on patients' health.

Liverpool University Hospital Trust contacted Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in March 2019 to outline its position regarding urology services for residents of North Wales. This position was twofold:

The Trust and the Health Board agreed that new referrals of bladder cancer patients for radical cystectomy would cease from 5 April 2019. This was due to reduced specialist surgical cover following a 12 month period of maternity leave from June 2019. Despite rigorous attempts, the Trust had been unable to provide short term cover in this area of national staff shortage. Whilst the Trust committed to treating all patients referred prior to 5 April, the acceptance of new referrals ended after this date. It was therefore considered that the best course of action for patients was for the Health Board to make alternative arrangements for new referrals.

The Trust informed the health board that it would be enacting Trust policy ensuring that specialist urological cancer surgery was prioritised for patients within its immediate locality.

The attached table contains the number of patients that have been treated from English and Welsh postcode at Liverpool Royal Hospital for urinary tract care in each of the last five years.

The Urinary Tract Outpatient number of patients will give the overall number of patients from Wales receiving treatment or review.