Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take with NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System to increase the delivery of endoscopy procedures for patients in Gosport constituency.

£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.

Cutting National Health Service waiting lists, including for endoscopy services, is one of this government’s top priorities. This is a shared ambition amongst integrated care systems (ICSs), including the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICS. Priorities are set locally through joint strategic needs assessments as part of joint forward plans across the ICS and partnering NHS trusts.

There are currently nine sites delivering diagnostics for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This includes the provision of endoscopy services at some sites.

In the South East Hampshire Locality which includes Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport, 1,908 additional endoscopy tests have been delivered closer to people’s homes, increasing earlier access to endoscopy procedures.