More cross border healthcare on cards between Wales and England under new plan

A Welsh Ambulance Service ambulance with blue lights illuminated
-Credit: (Image: Daily Post)


The UK and Welsh governments will collaborate on health care for the first time - which could see more cross border working by trusts. They will unveil the move at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

The governments said it "help drive down waiting lists on both sides of the border and improve patient care". They said they would learn from best practice on both sides of the border.

Welsh Labour has run the NHS in Wales since the start of devolution in 1999. At the current time the number of people waiting for an appointment with a hospital consultant in Wales has hit nearly 800,000 - with longer waiting lists than England in most areas.

Under this new partnership there will also be additional opportunities to explore more cross-border collaboration, including developing mutual aid partnerships, enabling NHS Trusts to support each other as capacity allows.

Labour said the UK Government will "draw inspiration" from the work the Welsh Labour Government has done to improve access to NHS dentistry "unlocking 400,000 appointments in the last two years". Meanwhile, they said Welsh Government will benefit from best practice shared by NHS England - including more productive ways of working across the NHS in England to deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week.

Labour said: "The previous UK Conservative Health Secretary suggested he was open to cross-border cooperation but failed to achieve meaningful agreement prior to the General Election."

Jo Stevens, Welsh Secretary, said: “Healthcare is one of the biggest shared challenges our two governments face and we are acting quickly to tackle it. These practical, common-sense steps could deliver real change on the ground for patients and clinicians. Until now, cheap political point scoring by the previous UK Conservative government made it impossible.

“This is only the first step in a bold new partnership between UK and Welsh Labour governments that will help deliver better care for patients and drive down waiting lists."

Eluned Morgan, First Minister of Wales, said: “People are rightly proud of the NHS, which was created here in Wales. They want to see the governments in Wales and the UK working together to ensure they have better access to care – whether that’s to an NHS dentist or to a planned operation. We don’t have a monopoly on good ideas and there’s lots we can learn from our closest neighbours and we have lots we can share with our colleagues in NHS England, where we have already made changes to our NHS.

“We are ready to harness the power of two Labour governments, with the same values and the same belief in our great National Health Service, working together to improve services for people on both sides of the border.”