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 reduce delays in treatment for people diagnosed with TB.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant pressures on National Health Service’s, including the detection, control, and prevention of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB). The TB Action Plan 2021-2026 for England aims to drive forward improvements by first prioritising the recovery of services, and then the prevention, detection and control of TB and developing the healthcare workforce. It includes a list of actions, such as strengthening treatment of active and/or latent TB in higher risk groups.

The Government has made £2 billion available via the Elective Recovery Fund and £8 billion across the following three years to transform elective services, increase capacity and reduce waiting times. The funding aims to deliver the equivalent of nine million more checks, scans, and procedures and 30% more elective activity by 2024-2025 than pre-pandemic.