FOREST health campaigners have welcomed a statement to Parliament confirming that patients in Gloucestershire are ‘unequivocally’ entitled to hospital care in line with NHS England policies.

Action4OurCare was started in the Forest after it emerged that patients living on the English side of the Wye but whose GP practices were in Wales were being denied access to some services not offered by the Welsh NHS.

The campaign could have implications for 21,500 patients all along the border from Sedbury to Cheshire.

The Welsh Affairs select committee, chaired by Monmouth MP David Davies, produced a report earlier this year on so-called cross-border health arrangements.

The DoH has now published a lengthy response to the Welsh Affairs committee report.

It states: “The UK government is pleased to have this opportunity to restate its policy that people resident in England should receive English-commissioned secondary care.

“Achieving this for English residents who are registered with GP practices in contract with the Welsh NHS depends on the co-operation of the Welsh government and the Welsh NHS.

“NHS England is working with them to put in place the necessary arrangements.

“The UK government wants this to happen as soon as possible.”

Pam Plummer of Action4OurCare said: “Action4OurCare is delighted that the Department of Health has formally confirmed to Parliament that cross-border patients living in England are unequivocally all entitled to access to hospital care within NHS England and that NHS England is responsible for their hospital treatment, not NHS Wales.

“For the 8,000 Gloucestershire residents, who have no choice but to register with GPs under contract to NHS Wales, they will no longer be treated as if they lived in Wales and not England.

“In practical terms, this means that they will be entitled to use ‘Choose and Book’ just like the rest of the country.

“They will no longer be limited to four NHS English Trusts and they won’t need the permission of NHS Wales for any aspect of their hospital care.

“Even better, they will no longer have to wait for 26 weeks – and in some cases up to 36 weeks – to get to hospital. They will have to be treated within 18 weeks.

“They will be able to access English specialist services and centres of excellence and have access to the specialist and rare drugs offered via the Cancer Drug Fund just like the rest of England which was previously denied to them.

“Action4OurCare is glad that its two-year campaign has brought about effective change not only for 8,000 Gloucestershire residents but for 21,500 people up and down the Anglo/Welsh border.

“While we welcome the cross-border co-operation between NHS Wales and NHS England and the meetings which are urgently taking place to resolve this, we urge NHS England and NHS Wales to delay no further and implement the changes required as soon as possible and by April 2016 at the latest when the cross-border protocol, which caused this mess, expires.”