Oral Answers to Questions

Caroline Johnson Excerpts

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

I would first like to say I am sorry that the Minister for Public Health and Prevention is unwell and convey to her the best wishes of the Opposition.

I would like the Secretary of State to consider a patient who has waited a year for a procedure and then, after three waiting list validation calls, finally sees the consultant to check that the procedure is still necessary. If the consultant agrees that it is, do the Government figures show that patient as waiting for a year or a much shorter period?

[Wes Streeting]

A clock stop would be in place from the moment the patient saw the consultant. The reason we have had to do waiting list validation is that, in addition to driving waiting lists up, the Conservative party presided over a total shambles where patients were often waiting in duplicate slots on the waiting list, removed from waiting lists unnecessarily or waiting far too long. That is the mess we inherited from the Conservative party.

[Wes Streeting]

It is no use shadow Ministers heckling from the sidelines. When they had the chance, they drove waiting lists up, and they drove the NHS into the abyss.

[Dr Johnson]

The Secretary of State does not seem entirely sure, so perhaps he can write to us with an answer—

[Wes Streeting]

I said that there is a clock stop.

[Dr Johnson]

As someone who is on the waiting list myself, I do hope that the Secretary of State is correct. Waiting lists for procedures and operations requiring day care or overnight admission are both rising and higher than they were a year ago. Orthopaedic surgery waiting lists are up, yet this Government scrapped our major conditions strategy and say that they have no plans for a musculoskeletal conditions framework. Gynaecology surgery waiting lists are up, yet the Government scrapped and are now reviewing the women’s health strategy. Waits for procedures and operations in ophthalmology, general surgery, neurology and gastroenterology are going up too. When is the Secretary of State going to get a grip of the surgical waiting lists?

[Wes Streeting]

I honestly cannot believe the brass neck of Conservative Members; their time in government led to the longest waiting times and lowest patient satisfaction in the history of the national health service. The best news I can offer the shadow Minister, and others like her who are on a waiting list, is that we have a Labour Government who are reducing waiting lists for the first time in more than 15 years.