CROSS-border health care is on the agenda as a special Welsh Affairs inquiry rolls into Hereford next month.

In July, the Hereford Times revealed the Wye Valley NHS Trust has to find around 12 million a year to cover the cost of Welsh patients who cant go home because care packages arent in place.

Last year, when the Hereford Times highlighted the postcode lottery that pushed NHS patients on the Herefordshire side of the border into NHS Wales for treatment, the row went all the way to parliament.

As a result, the Welsh Affairs Committee inquiry into cross-border health care is coming to Hereford and a venue yet to be confirmed on Monday, November 24.

The committee is looking to take evidence from patients, medical professionals and social care practitioners.

The five years since the committee last examined the issue in 2009 have seen an increasing divergence between the healthcare systems of England and Wales, which has implications for patients in border areas.

In April last year, NHS Wales and the NHS Commissioning Board (CB) England agreed a Protocol for Cross-border Healthcare Services but it is not clear how well this has been functioning to date.

The Silk Commission has also made recommendations to improve cross-border health delivery, and the Government is preparing its response.

The Committee is inviting written evidence on some, or all, of the following issues:

* The impact of the increasing policy divergence in the health systems of England and Wales on cross-border healthcare services, and on medical practitioners and patients in border regions in England and Wales.

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Cross border health care inquiry comes to Hereford