Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the budget of the East of England Ambulance Service has been increased to account for the additional workload of the Essex Success Regime hospital reconfiguration proposals.

NHS England has advised that the Mid and South Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership has always accepted that the possibility of consolidating specialist services across three hospitals could require additional ambulance capacity potentially requiring some capital investment and an increase in revenue per annum.

The modelling that has been done to date in partnership with East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust was designed to give an indication of any potential increase so that this may be built in to the developing pre-consultation business case. Clinicians are currently working on more detailed proposals for specific service areas.

Any required investments will be agreed by clinical commissioners and subsequently assured by NHS England and other regulators. Any increase in investment would be agreed in the usual way through the annual contract for ambulance services.