Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s report entitled Elective Surgery during COVID-19, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of that report’s recommendation that surgeons be given access to same-day covid-19 testing results to enable testing of surgical patients both before and upon admission and upon discharge.

We are engaging with stakeholders from across the local and national health and care system, including the Royal College of Surgeons of England, to ensure our programme is as effective as possible ahead of the winter.

Clinicians in the National Health Service are able to test patients where clinically appropriate, in line with the Chief Medical Officer and NHS England guidance. We continue to work with the NHS to ensure testing is available where appropriate and clinically indicated.