Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department plans to (a) consult NHS staff on its proposals for NHS reorganisation and (b) help ensure that those staff understand the impact of that reorganisation on the services they provide.

The Health and Care Bill includes proposals to place integrated care systems (ICSs) on a statutory footing. These proposals build on recommendations for legislation made by NHS England in 2019, following an extensive engagement exercise involving National Health Service staff, patients and other health and care organisations which received over 190,000 individual responses.

Every area in England is already covered by an ICS which is a partnership organisation. As the transition to statutory ICSs continues, local organisations and systems will be responsible for sharing and disseminating information to staff and consulting on the proposed transfer at the appropriate time. This transition will be characterised by care for people without distracting them from the critical challenges of recovery for the NHS and tackling population health. NHS England has developed a set of national human resources principles and made an employment commitment to support this transition, which will look to provide employment stability and minimise disruption wherever possible.