Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's publication entitled Implementing patient initiated follow-up: Guidance for local health and care systems, published on 17 May 2022, on what evidential basis NHS England decided that outpatient follow ups should be reduced by a minimum of 25 per cent against 2019-20 activity levels by March 2023.

NHS England’s 2023/24 Planning Guidance makes clear that whilst the national ambition is to reduce outpatient follow-ups by 25%, the opportunity to do so will differ by trust and specialty, and local planning should inform how the ambition will be delivered across the system. The 25% reduction only applies to follow-ups where a procedure does not take place and excludes specific services like maternity and mental health.

These appointments are often termed as reviews, and some patients and clinicians will argue that these are often of low value and that patients should only attend reviews when they are clinically necessary.