Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department's policy is on cross-border patient referrals to Scotland.

A patient may be referred to an NHS service which is geographically located in Scotland.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning the majority of NHS services. It is for CCGs to commission services to meet the needs of their local population.

CCGs are free to commission services in Scotland as long as such services comply with the NHS Constitution, which sets out rights for patients, public and staff. It outlines NHS commitments to patients and staff, and the responsibilities that the public, patients and staff owe to one another to ensure that the NHS operates fairly and effectively.

NHS England has published the document ‘Who Pays? Determining responsibility for payments to providers’ which provides guidance for CCGs on commissioning services from hospitals in Scotland and outside their own area.

A copy has been attached.