Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce gynaecology waiting lists in Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB.

Reducing waiting lists is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission, and we are committed to cutting waiting times across all specialities and integrated care boards (ICBs). We have committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard, that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, by March 2029. We are making good progress, with waiting lists cut by over 230,000 since the Government came into office, including nearly 14,000 fewer waits for gynaecology treatment.

We also delivered 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025, exceeding our pledge of two million. However, we know that there is more to do and have confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment to expand capacity across diagnostics, electives, and urgent care. This includes expanding the number of surgical hubs, which provide valuable and protected capacity across elective specialities, including gynaecology. As of November 2025, there are 123 operational elective surgical hubs in England, three of which are in the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB. Over half of the 123 provide gynaecology services. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, also committed to:

• increasing the relative funding available to support gynaecology procedures with the largest waiting lists;
• ensuring that independent sector providers play a greater role in providing support for the most challenged specialities, such as gynaecology; and
• reforming and optimising clinical pathways across a number of specialities. In gynaecology, this includes supporting the delivery of innovative models offering patients care closer to home and piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres for patients with post-menopausal bleeding.