Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the removal of peripheral vascular and drug eluting stents from the high cost device exclusion list in the 2016-17 tariff proposals on patient access to the technology.

The proposal to remove peripheral vascular and drug eluting stents from the high cost device list was made given the available evidence on costs, including reference cost data and device costs collected from the National Health Service. Monitor and NHS England will listen to feedback on the initial proposal before making a final proposal for the 2016/17 national tariff. Monitor will publish an impact assessment alongside the statutory consultation on proposals for the 2016/17 national tariff.