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 reduce waiting times for NHS treatment in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

Cutting National Health Service waiting lists is one of the Government’s top priorities.

To facilitate this across elective services in England, we are increasing activity, with plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, expanding capacity though creating a network of community diagnostic centres (CDCs), and maximising all available independent sector capacity. We are managing demand through specialised advice in primary care and giving patients more control over where they receive their care, and we are increasing productivity through: transforming outpatient services; developing new surgical hubs to increase theatre productivity, funded by part of £1.5 billion; and working actively with trusts to support and challenge on their performance.

We recognise that local areas were affected by COVID-19 differently, resulting in variation in elective waiting times across different parts of the country. Tackling inequalities in access to elective care has therefore been a key component of the Department’s and NHS England’s approach to recovery. This is supported by the creation and expansion of CDCs and surgical hubs. There are currently 94 surgical hubs and 136 CDCs operational across England.

In the West Midlands there are 16 surgical hubs and six operational CDCs. In Coventry North East Constituency there is one surgical hub and one CDC.