Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System plans to take to increase the delivery of endoscopy procedures for patients in Knowsley constituency.

£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.

In July 2021, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System opened St Helens CDC, which has since delivered 2,164 additional endoscopy tests closer to people’s homes, increasing earlier access to endoscopy procedures for the Knowsley population.

In 2022/23, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System spent a total of £46,608,474 on diagnostic scoping services. Of this, £3,268,694 (7.0%), was spent on diagnostic endoscopy procedures in Knowsley.

Data on funding for all diagnostics is not held in the format requested.