Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his letter to his counterparts in Scotland and Wales on 13 August 2023, what steps he plans to take to ensure that patients on waiting lists in Northern Ireland can receive treatment in England.

The Government are committed to reducing waiting times across England and the United Kingdom, and my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has written to the devolved administrations to offer to work collaboratively to reduce long waits. He also indicated that he would consider any request for patients waiting for lengthy periods for treatment in Scotland and Wales to be able to choose from alternate providers in England.

Officials in the Department are seeking an initial meeting with the devolved administrations to discuss how we can work jointly and share lessons on tackling the longest waits.

More generally, the UK Government has a longstanding history of close working with the Devolved Governments on cross-border commissioning arrangements. These have been in place for several years and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland already have the power to contract with any National Health Service provider in England for specific services.

For example, NHS England commissions five specialised services on behalf of patients from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: choriocarcinoma; craniofacial services; liver transplantation (where this takes place at English providers); retinoblastoma; and specialist paediatric liver services.