Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions NHS England had with (a) the NHS England clinical reference group for interventional radiology and (b) the British Society for Interventional Radiologists on the proposed removal of the interventional radiology best practice tariff.

Monitor and NHS England have shared responsibility for the national tariff, and are inviting feedback on this proposed change as part of their engagement on proposals for the 2016/17 national tariff. The feedback from this exercise will inform the proposals to be published for statutory consultation.

The interventional radiology best practice tariff was introduced to ensure adequate reimbursement for a set of interventional radiology procedures. NHS England and Monitor now propose this is unnecessary as these procedures are identified by new Healthcare Resource Groups (HRGs) with the proposed introduction of HRG4+ in the national tariff 2016/17.