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 support people who are waiting for traumatic and orthopaedic surgery for longer than 18 months.

The Government is taking steps with NHS England to support people waiting for appointments and surgery for long-term conditions, including in trauma and orthopaedics, by offering online support, increasing elective capacity and encouraging personalised support.

As set out in its elective recovery delivery plan, the National Health Service is increasing elective capacity and improving patient pathways to reduce avoidable delays in care. This includes funding new surgical hubs and expanding those already in operation to increase elective capacity and improve treatment waiting times for patients with long-term conditions. Through improvements to patient pathways, there will be greater end-to-end support, including help to prevent patients sustaining secondary injuries.

In addition, NHS England is working to develop further guidance to support local health systems to provide personalised and targeted support for patients and their carers, to help them manage their symptoms, prevent deterioration and recover effectively from treatment.

NHS England launched the My Planned Care platform in February 2022, giving patients advice and support to manage their health and avoid significant deterioration of symptoms whilst they wait for appointments. This online platform includes advice on movement, medication and mental health.