Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Statement of 5 September 2022 on DHSC Update, HCWS291, what information she plans to make available to patients through the NHS App to support their choice of provider at the point of GP referral; and what types of provider she plans to include.

Patients in England have a legal right to choose the provider for their first outpatient appointment following a general practitioner referral for many healthcare services. Patients may choose between National Health Service or independent providers. The My Planned Care platform was launched by the NHS in February 2022, which provides access to information on local average waiting times at a speciality level, excluding cancer, for all hospital trusts in England. NHS England intends to develop My Planned Care to provide a hub for patients for the entire treatment pathway and develop further integration with the NHS App.