Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to tackle the backlog in NHS diagnostics tests.

The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services in the next three years. The plan aims that by March 2025, 95% of patients needing a diagnostic test will receive it within six weeks.

We have also announced a £2.3 billion investment for diagnostics, which will increase the number of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025. This is in addition to £325 million provided in 2021/22 for over 40 CDCs. This will increase diagnostic capacity, supporting faster, earlier diagnosis and reduced waiting times for better patient outcomes. CDCs have already delivered over 550,000 additional tests and scans, with around nine million more procedures anticipated by 2025.