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 reduce waiting times for atrial fibrillation ablation procedures in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.

Catheter ablation for paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation for adults is a prescribed specialised service commissioned in accordance with a published national clinical commissioning policy. Consequently, NHS England’s regional specialised commissioning teams and integrated care boards (ICBs), including the Somerset ICB, are responsible for monitoring activity, reviewing equity of access for their populations, and addressing unwarranted variation through local oversight arrangements and clinical networks.