Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the Getting it Right First Time programme will have in delivering improved levels of onward referral for patients with newly diagnosed vertebral fractures.

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme reviewed all spinal surgery providers in England in 2019 and highlighted several areas for improvement. We are assessing the impact of these findings and the GIRFT team is due to report on progress later this year when new ‘time to surgery’ data for these conditions has been collected. NHS England and NHS Improvement also plan to increase the number of rehabilitation beds available nationally, which is expected to have a significant impact in improving levels of referrals.