Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) reduce wait times and (b) increase capacity for paediatric blood tests.

We inherited a broken National Health Service, and reducing elective waiting lists is a key part of getting it back on its feet and building an NHS that is fit for the future. To that end we have committed to achieving the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029. Cutting waiting times for diagnostic tests such as blood tests is a crucial step in reducing the elective waiting list.

Blood tests are among the most commonly requested diagnostic investigations across primary and secondary care, and they are readily available across all 27 NHS pathology networks. Phlebotomy, the procedure to collect blood samples, is widely available across general practice, community health services, and secondary care phlebotomy clinics, supporting equitable access to blood testing.

The NHS is taking steps to reduce wait times for blood tests. These include establishing more straight to test pathways, whereby a patient is referred straight to a diagnostic test without the need for an additional outpatient appointment first, as well as investing in digital pathology and automation of histopathology services to reduce the time patients wait for blood test results to be processed.

Alongside this, we are continuing to invest in expanding diagnostic capacity in the NHS. As set out in the Elective reform Plan, we plan to build up to five more community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in 2025/26, alongside increasing the operating hours of existing sites so that more offer services 12 hours a day, seven days a week. This is backed by part of the £600 million of capital for diagnostic services announced at the October Spending Review.

CDCs offer local populations, including children, a wide range of diagnostic tests closer to home and greater choice on where and how they are undertaken. This reduces the need for hospital visits, reduces pressure on hospitals, and speeds up diagnosis. CDCs are expected to offer their services to children and young people where it is safe and appropriate to do so. Phlebotomy is a core service provided by all standard and large model CDCs.