Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that patients who live in England and treated in Wales are impacted by changes to NHS organisation in England.

There are special cross-border arrangements for patients who live on the English-Welsh border to ensure that they receive healthcare without confusion or delay and that patient data can be accessed by relevant professionals.

To drive reform of the health and care system, we are creating a new operating model for the health and care system, with a smaller, more agile centre. The changes will allow the national centre to operate very differently to the current arrangements and support delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan. Throughout this work we will retain focus on delivery, patient safety, and on driving reform across the whole of the health and care system.

As part of these wider changes, NHS England has also asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to act primarily as strategic commissioners of health and care services and to reduce the duplication of responsibilities within their structure, with the expectation of achieving a reduction in their running cost allowance.

ICBs have developed their plans in accordance with the guidance set out by the Model ICB Blueprint. NHS England is working with the ICBs to review and implement these plans. These plans should affirm the critical role of the ICBs as strategic commissioner, with their core functions centred in population health management, including understanding local context, developing a long-term strategy, allocating resources, and evaluating impact. ICBs, as strategic commissioners, continue to have the duty to arrange health services that meet the needs of their population and to manage cross-border arrangements.