Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that clinicians have the opportunity formally to engage in discussions on NHS sustainability and transformation plans.

The process for Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) is designed to bring together health and care leaders, including clinical commissioning groups, to support improvements in health and care based on the needs of local populations.

NHS England, with other national health and care bodies, released guidance to the local areas developing STP Plans entitled ‘Engaging local people’ in September 2016. A copy of this guidance can be found here:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/engag-local-people-stps.pdf

It is expected most areas will take a version of their STP to their organisation’s public board meeting for discussion between late October and the end of the year. It is expected that plans will be published, for more formal engagement, during this period – building on the engagement they have already done to shape thinking. Every area will be working to a different timeframe, based on its individual circumstances.