Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Institute for Fiscal Studies report entitled one year on from the backlog recovery plan: what next for NHS waiting lists, published in February 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of that report's findings on NHS waitlists in 2023 and early 2024; and if he will introduce a requirement to provide personalised pre-operative care for people on waiting lists for surgery.

The Department considers a wide range of material when developing policies. We do not intend to make a specific assessment of this report.

Strengthening perioperative pathways is one of the National Health Service’s ambitions, starting at the point of referral or listing for surgery to support patients’ preparation.

From April 2023, NHS England is asking providers to establish Perioperative Care Co-ordination teams. These are multidisciplinary teams who will assess health needs to proactively inform pre- and post-operative care and identify surgical risk factors, in order to reduce the chance of cancellations and to improve patient outcomes.

Perioperative Care Co-ordination teams will work with patients to develop personalised preparation plans. These plans will detail both the clinical and the wider support needs of patients both leading up to the time of surgery and in the post-surgical period.