Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for elective surgeries for people in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

We are taking action to recover elective services nationally, including for people in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency, by working towards the targets set out in the Elective Recovery Plan and providing the National Health Service with record levels of staffing and funding. To support elective recovery, we plan to spend more than £8 billion from 2022-23 to 2024-25, supported by a £5.9 billion investment in capital – for new beds, equipment and technology.

£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. As at November 2023, there are 130 CDCs currently operational that have delivered over five million additional tests since July 2021, including large, standard and hub models.  This includes two CDCs in Bedfordshire – North Bedfordshire CDC in Bedford and Whitehouse Health Centre CDC in Milton Keynes.

We are also transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There are currently 95 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of 16 November 2023. These surgical hubs will help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care.