Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the estimated cost implications are of the proposed closure of congenital heart disease services at Royal Brompton Hospital, including (a) the cost of expanding provision elsewhere and (b) transferring staff and services.

Congenital heart disease services are paid for through tariff. Therefore, if NHS England proposals were to be implemented, and this resulted in changes to the flow of patients, funding for treatment would follow the patients.

NHS England is working with providers to seek assurances of their ability to accept additional patients if required to do so. This includes considering the effect of the potential changes on staff and to understand the cost implications of the changes which it is proposing.