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 impact of the shortage of consultant cardiologists on NHS waiting lists (i) nationally and (ii) in South Yorkshire.

No assessment has been made. 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 across all specialties, including cardiology. As a first step, we delivered on our interim target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026.

The Government has improved cardiology waiting times nationally, with a waiting list reduction of nearly 40,000 and an 8.2% improvement in the proportion of waits below 18 weeks. The South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) has particularly strong waiting time performance for cardiology, with 84.7% of the service’s waiting list below 18 weeks, the second strongest performing ICB nationally.

As set out in the Elective Reform Plan we are investing in modernisation, reforming, and simplifying pathways, increasing surgical and diagnostic capacity, and empowering patients with faster and more convenient access to care. These actions will improve waiting times for all patients, and specifically cardiology as a priority speciality.