Urgent action needed to fix 'broken and disjointed' cross-border healthcare affecting English and Welsh patients - MP
A "broken and disjointed" healthcare system is affecting thousands of patients living along the English/Welsh border, a Shropshire MP has said.
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan said current arrangements mean hospitals often prioritise patients based on which side of the border they live, rather than on clinical need.
She told Parliament that poor data sharing and ongoing funding disputes between NHS England and NHS Wales are "putting lives at risk".
Speaking during a Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday (November 4), Mrs Morgan said: "After 25 years of devolution, NHS England and NHS Wales still cannot share patient records properly. Referrals, test results and discharge letters are still moving by post or fax - an absurd situation in 2025."
Mrs Morgan, who is also the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for health and social care, highlighted cases of patients registered with Welsh GPs but treated in English hospitals who faced delays and distress due to "bureaucratic wrangling".
She said one constituent was told just days before they were due to have surgery that the Welsh health board would not fund reconstructive treatment, leaving her "distressed and very scared about her future".
"That is not fairness, it is failure," Mrs Morgan added. "Patients living with chronic pain are being told to wait longer than necessary because they live in Wales."
