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 the size of backlogs in the NHS approaching summer 2023.

Having met our target to virtually eliminate long waits of two years or more for elective procedures in July 2022 we have now significantly reduced the number of patients waiting 18 months or more by April 2023, ahead of summer. As a result of the pandemic, the number of patients waiting over 18 months peaked at almost 125,000 in September 2021. Official NHS England statistics show at the end of March 2023 there were 10,737 patients waiting over 18 months, a reduction of over 91% from this peak.

Steps being taken to reduce the size of the backlog include increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and engaging with patients to understand their choices.