PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Heart Diseases (16 November 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether meetings relating to the proposed re-configuration of congenital heart disease services will be (a) open to the public and (b) minuted; whether papers relating those meetings will be published; and within what timescale those papers will be published.

Asked by:
Dr Rupa Huq (Labour)

As part of the consultation on NHS England’s proposed changes to congenital heart disease (CHD) services, it is working with partners, including hospitals that provide these services, CHD charities and patient support groups, to develop a full programme of meetings and events which will be open to the public. The events will be designed to provide a direct contribution of views and help to ensure that attendees are aware of NHS England’s proposals and to encourage participation in the consultation. The notes of these events will be made available to the independent analysts who will analyse all consultation responses on behalf of NHS England.

The table below provides the information requested on the other meetings associated with NHS England’s review of CHD.

Meeting	Open to the public	Minuted	Meeting papers published	Timescale for publishing meeting papers	Additional information
NHS England board meetings	Yes	Yes	Yes	Papers are published one week in advance and minutes are published once agreed.
NHS England Business meetings	No	No	No. In line with organisational policy.
Clinical Reference Group	No	Yes	No. In line with organisational policy.		There are three patient and public members.
National Panel	No	The outcome of these meetings will be reflected in a report that will be published before the launch of consultation.	No		There are three patient and public members.

Answered by:
Philip Dunne (Conservative)
24 November 2016