Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for a decision to be made on the proposed changes to acute services at South Tyneside District Hospital; and if he will make a statement.

Following a referral to him made earlier this month by the South Tyneside and Sunderland Council Joint Health Scrutiny Committee, under S.23 of the Local Authority (Public Health, Health and Wellbeing Boards and Health Scrutiny) Regulations 2013, of the proposed changes to services commissioned by the South Tyneside and Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Groups, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel seeking their expert, independent advice on the concerns raised. An announcement will be made in due course, on receipt of the Panel’s report.