Speaking at the Labour conference today, Stevens said the partnership would ‘drive down waiting lists on both sides of the border'.

Stevens added: ‘The UK Government will take inspiration from Wales on dentistry where reforms have already unlocked almost 400,000 appointments in the last two years and …. and the Welsh Government will benefit from best practice shared by NHS England as my colleague Wes Streeting shares the roll-out of new more productive ways of working across England to deliver those 40,000 extra appointments every week.

The secretary of state said the initiative was the ‘beginning of a new way of working together that will help improve outcomes in both nations'.

Mark Dayan, policy analyst and head of public affairs at the Nuffield Trust, said: ‘It makes perfect sense for the NHS in England and Wales to learn from each other and to coordinate, given that they face similar problems and that people living near the border often get care from clinician's on the other side. People already get sent from one country to the other on the NHS for specialised procedures as well, even if they live further from the border. 

Dayan said it was possible to find appointments for patients across the borders, especially for rare treatments, but cautioned there was ‘little spare capacity', in England or Wales to make a ‘major dent in waiting lists'.  

He added that cross-learning would be hampered by a lack of comparable data.