The Welsh government will consult on the NHS Performers list application in “the coming months”, in a bid to streamline the process to recruit more English GPs.
These changes would allow a GP already on an English, Scottish or Northern Ireland performers list to apply to be placed on a local health board’s performers list by completing a streamlined application form.
The border between Wales and England is estimated to be 170 miles long, with 50% of the population of Wales living within 25 miles of the border.
Devolution has led to increasing divergence between the English and Welsh healthcare systems, potentially confusing patients who rely on facilities on the other side of the border from where they live.
In response, the Department of Health made clear they support this change in the report they published yesterday, in response to the Welsh government report published in March 2015, titled Cross-border health arrangements between England and Wales.
