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 tackle backlogs in joint replacement surgery.
Cutting waiting lists is one of the Government’s top priorities. The National Health Service is prioritising urgent and cancer care and will continue to do its best to maintain appointments and elective services wherever possible, including joint replacement surgery and musculoskeletal services. 18-month waits for trauma and orthopaedic services have been reduced by more than 92% since September 2021.
Additionally, we are transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs. This is focused on providing high volume low complexity surgery in six high volume specialties, which includes trauma and orthopaedics including joint replacement surgery, as well as other elective treatment areas such as ophthalmology, general surgery, gynaecology, Ear Nose and Throat, and urology.
94 of these such hubs are open currently, and through capital investment announced at 2021 Spending Review, the NHS plans to have 132 such centres open by March 2025.