Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 17 July (HL530), what support they are giving to Operational Delivery Networks which did not achieve their run rates in the period 2016–17 to meet those targets in the future.

In 2016-17, Operational Delivery Networks achieved 94% of the planned treatment run rate of 10,000 patients, with all but two treating over 90% of their run rate. NHS England has a Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme in place for hepatitis C virus (HCV), which provides a substantial opportunity for hospitals to earn additional income available to invest in their contribution to the sustainable rollout of HCV treatments. NHS England also invested £1 million in fibroscanning equipment to identify patients at the highest unmet clinical need. Clinical and commissioning support is provided at regional and national level to share best practice.