Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many new surgical hubs the New Hospital Programme is expected to deliver.

The New Hospital Programme is a new long-term approach to building hospitals that will transform how we deliver infrastructure for the National Health Service (NHS). The new hospitals, as well as being built more efficiently, will enable greater productivity in treatment and care across a wide range of areas, ensuring our facilities remain on the cutting edge of innovation and technology to deliver world-class care.

The New Hospital Programme is a separate initiative from the Elective Recovery programme. The Department through the Elective Recovery programme is increasing the number of surgical hubs across the country as part of our plan to help patients access vital procedures quicker. We have already delivered 91 surgical hubs, which are providing vital capacity to deliver high volume low complexity procedures. We are working with the NHS to identify areas which will benefit most from new surgical hubs and where we can expand existing surgical hubs, backed by £1.5 billion. Location decisions for the surgical hubs are clinically led, to tackle local healthcare inequalities while promoting the best outcomes for patients, and delivering value for taxpayers.