Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to protect and promote patient's rights under the NHS constitution in those areas affected by the new NHS capped expenditure process.

The National Health Service is required to meet its operational standards as set out in the mandate and ensure access to appropriate care for all, in line with the NHS constitution. It is right that the NHS should consider efficiency savings such as reducing delayed transfers of care, reducing running costs, or reviewing treatments that are of low clinical effectiveness – because this improves patient care overall.