Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of how many (a) operations and (b) procedures are being prevented from happening due to a shortage of anaesthetists.

The Government recognises too many people have been waiting for National Health Service treatment, including for operations. The Government pledged to deliver an additional two million operations, scans and appointments, as a First Step to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the NHS constitutional standard, by March 2029. We have exceeded this ambition and delivered over three million additional appointments since July 2024.

There is no specific analysis of whether operations or procedures have been prevented. We recognise having the right workforce will be crucial to ensure we continue to make progress. We will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.

We will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.