Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the level of investment in facilities and staff that will be required to expand capacity at each unit to which patients will be transferred as a result of the closure of congenital heart disease services at Royal Brompton Hospital in order to meet the increase in demand as a result of those transfers.

No decision has been made to close the congenital heart disease service at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. NHS England will make a decision on its proposals for changes to adult and children’s congenital heart services in England following a consultation. It has worked, and will continue to work, with providers and other stakeholders to assess the impact of these proposals. NHS England intends to publish an impact assessment and other relevant information in due course.