Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce elective care waiting times for (a) joint replacement surgery and (b) other surgeries.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing elective waiting times across all specialties is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission, and this includes waiting times for trauma and orthopaedics. We exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments, tests, and operations in our first year of Government, delivering 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025. This marked a vital First Step to delivering on our commitment to return to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.
As of the end of November 2025, the number of trauma and orthopaedic pathways within 18 weeks stood at 59.2%, an improvement of 3.1% since the start of July 2024.
However, we know there is more to do, and have confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment to expand capacity across diagnostics, electives, and urgent care. This includes increasing the number of surgical hubs, which provide protected surgical capacity across elective specialities, including trauma and orthopaedics.
By separating elective services from urgent and emergency care, hubs improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital pressures. Almost three quarters of the 124 operational elective surgical hubs in England currently provide trauma and orthopaedics services.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Elective Recovery Plan, what progress his Department has made on the 18-week referral-to-treatment targets.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the Plan for Change and the Elective Reform Plan, we are committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment.
We have already made significant progress on this. As of November 2025, the waiting list has reduced by over 312,000 since the Government came into office, and performance against the referral to treatment standard has improved by 2.9%, reaching 61.8%.
We’ve made this progress through setting ambitious targets, investing in modernisation, reforming and simplifying pathways, increasing surgical and diagnostic capacity, and empowering patients with faster and more convenient access to care.
This has been supported by the delivery of 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year, more than double the Government’s pledge of two million. This marked a vital First Step towards delivering the constitutional standard.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of repealing section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the National Health Service in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last ten years and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.
Although forecasts remain uncertain, it is likely that the costs of clinical negligence will continue to grow substantially. The Government Actuary’s Department forecasts that annual payments for compensation and legal costs will increase from £3 billion in 2024/25 to £4.1 billion by 2029/30.
As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, David Lock KC is providing expert policy advice on the rising costs of clinical negligence and how we can improve patients’ experience of claims. The review is ongoing, following initial advice to ministers and the recent National Audit Office report.
We welcome the report by the National Audit Office. The results of David Lock’s work will inform future policy making in this area. No decisions on policy have been taken at this point, and the Government will provide an update on the work done and next steps in due course.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to address rising legal costs associated with clinical negligence claims.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the National Health Service in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last ten years and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.
Although forecasts remain uncertain, it is likely that the costs of clinical negligence will continue to grow substantially. The Government Actuary’s Department forecasts that annual payments for compensation and legal costs will increase from £3 billion in 2024/25 to £4.1 billion by 2029/30.
As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, David Lock KC is providing expert policy advice on the rising costs of clinical negligence and how we can improve patients’ experience of claims. The review is ongoing, following initial advice to ministers and the recent National Audit Office report.
We welcome the report by the National Audit Office. The results of David Lock’s work will inform future policy making in this area. No decisions on policy have been taken at this point, and the Government will provide an update on the work done and next steps in due course.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce the next phase of the National Service Frameworks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early priorities for Modern Service Frameworks will include cardiovascular disease, sepsis, severe mental illness and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. As advised by the National Quality Board, the Government will consider other conditions for future phases of MSFs and has recently announced an MSF on palliative and end-of-life care.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to establish staff treatment hubs.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan on 3 July 2025, work is underway to develop implementation and operational plans for the Staff Treatments Hubs. This will determine factors such as location, budgets, timeframes, and capacity.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that cancer patients in Newbury are treated within 62 days.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have now exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments across elective, diagnostic, and cancer care, having now delivered over five million more appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster access to treatment.
Between November 2024 to October 2025, approximately 110,000 more patients were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days compared to the previous 12 months. This supports the achievement of the 62-day treatment standard, as faster diagnosis means that patients can begin treatment sooner.
The latest available data shows that the 62-day treatment standard for the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board has improved by 3.5% between October 2024 and October 2025.
However, we recognise that there is more to do, including for patients in Newbury.
To ensure that the most advanced treatment is available to the patients who need it, and so that patients can be treated sooner, the Government has also invested £70 million of central funding to replace outdated radiotherapy machines, including one at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to routine tissue freezing for brain cancer patients in Newbury.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of National Health Service trusts in England that have facilities for fresh freezing brain cancer tissue samples is not currently collected and no recent assessment has been made on the adequacy, extent, or capacity of procedures for freezing brain cancer and general cancer tissue samples across NHS trusts in England.
Pathology services in England are delivered through 27 regional pathology networks, and offer a comprehensive range of tests, including the analysis of brain tissues. Individual pathology services maintain their own standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fresh, or snap-freezing, of tissue samples. These SOPs outline local capabilities and practices.
In addition, the Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support NHS trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve capacity within the social care system and (b) reduce delayed discharges.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working closely with NHS England and local authorities to improve social care capacity and reduce delayed discharges.
The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) provided over £1 billion to local authorities for adult social care over 2025/26, based on their areas’ needs, to target increasing fee rates paid to adult social care providers, increasing adult social care workforce recruitment and retention, and reducing waiting times for care.
We are also supporting the digitisation of adult social care, which can strengthen capacity within the social care system through productivity improvements. 80% of registered care providers now have digitised care records, benefitting 89% of people who draw on care. Digital care records can save time spent on administrative tasks, releasing over 20 minutes per care worker, per shift.
The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 identifies reducing delays in hospital discharge as a key priority. Hospitals are expected to eliminate discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by in-hospital issues, to work with local authorities to tackle the longest delays, starting with those over 21 days, and to profile discharges by pathway to support local planning. In addition, the 2025/26 policy framework for the £9 billion Better Care Fund requires the National Health Service and local authorities to jointly agree local goals for reducing discharge delays.
Starting in the financial year 2026/27, we will reform the Better Care Fund. This reform will provide a sharper focus on ensuring consistent joint NHS and local authority funding for those services that are essential for integrated health and social care, such as hospital discharge, intermediate care, rehabilitation and reablement. We will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his department has issued guidance on steps to help increase Child Vision Screening Programmes.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee recommends vision screening for children aged four to five years old. Information on the UK National Screening Committee is available at the following link
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-national-screening-committee
The aim is to identify children with reduced vision in one or both eyes so that defects can be rectified early. Local authorities are responsible for this as part of the Healthy child programme, although it is not mandated. Further information on the Healthy child programme is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/healthy-child-programme
The Department has published a suite of resources to support the commissioning and delivery of high-quality, consistent child vision screening services, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-vision-screening