Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the clinical evidence basis is that patient services will be improved as a result of the proposed closure of congenital heart disease services at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

No decision has been made to close the Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) service at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. In its work on the CHD standards, NHS England considered a broad range of determinants that contribute to excellent outcomes. Outcomes will be improved when care is provided by a centre that is able to meet the standards carefully developed by clinical experts and patients, and on which NHS England has already consulted.