Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce regional variations in the length of NHS elective care waiting lists.

Published management information from NHS England estimates that as of April 2024, three quarters of those waiting for 65 weeks are concentrated in 41 trusts. The National Health Service and Department are providing targeted regional and national intervention to these specific trusts with the largest backlogs, through a programme of challenge and support.