Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) appointments, (2) tests and (3) operations were delivered by independent providers for NHS patients in (a) 2022–23 and (b) 2023–24.

Independent sector providers have a role to play in supporting the National Health Service as trusted partners to recover elective services by using additional capacity to tackle the backlog whilst delivering value for money.

Independent sector providers delivered 3,265,305 outpatient appointments in 2022/23 and 4,156,770 outpatient appointments in 2023/24, including first appointment and follow-up.

They delivered 1,523,195 tests in 2022/23 and 1,876,989 in 2023/24. This includes only the 15 key diagnostic tests and excludes activity subcontracted from NHS trusts where responsibility for the pathway remains with the trust.

There were 761,420 inpatient admissions in independent sector providers in 2022/23 and 970,865 inpatient admissions in 2023/24. This includes ordinary electives and day case electives.