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 help ensure that a greater number of surgeries for UK patients take place in the UK rather than overseas.

The Department continues to invest in capacity in the National Health Service, to allow patients to receive the high-quality surgery and treatment they need, as quickly as possible. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. The target to eliminate waiting times of two years or more for elective procedures was met in July 2022 and we aim to eliminate waiting times of eighteen months or more by April 2023. They also include encouraging innovation, with a new approach to building capacity which includes elective surgical hubs. The 89 surgical hubs already operational across England are separate from urgent and emergency care, meaning more activity, including planned surgery, can continue to take place.