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 reduce waiting times for cancer patients in the London Borough of Redbridge.

Prior to COVID-19, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust had a recovery plan in place for its cancer performance. The impact of COVID-19 on cancer performance at the Trust has been significant and subsequently the Trust has developed a new Cancer Recovery Plan with a key focus on reducing waiting times.

The Trust has taken a range of actions to ensure improved performance. These include:

- moving a significant amount of its cancer activity to Spire Hartswood during the pandemic to ensure services have continued. It is now working on taking these back;

- increasing endoscopy capacity through re-opening capacity at Queen’s Hospital; and

- utilising diagnostic capacity within the independent sector for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CT).