Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average NHS waiting time for cataract surgery; and how many patients are currently waiting.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently 80,935 patients waiting for cataract surgery. The average National Health Service waiting time for this procedure is 15.6 weeks.
The Government is committed to putting patients first. We will ensure 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015.
We are proceeding with our commitment to cutting NHS waiting lists and ensuring people have the best possible experience during their care. We have delivered a reduction in the list of 160,000 pathways as well as provided over two million extra appointments, including for ophthalmology.
NHS England is also testing how improved IT connectivity between primary care optometry and secondary eye care services could improve the referral process and allow for the virtual triage of patients. This also includes looking at whether patients can be managed in the community, freeing up hospital eye clinic capacity for patients that need face to face specialist input.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average NHS waiting time for hip replacement surgery; and how many patients are currently waiting.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently 31,323 patients waiting for a hip replacement. The average mean National Health Service waiting time for hip replacement surgery is 27.4 weeks.
The Government is working to reduce the number of patients awaiting treatment across the country. The Elective Reform Plan, launched as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, sets out how we will get back to the NHS Constitutional Standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment RTT by the end of this Parliament and also ensure patients have the best possible experience of care.
We have set an ambition for 2025/26 that we reach 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks nationally, and for all trusts to deliver a minimum five percentage point improvement by March 2026.
The Elective Reform Plan has committed to providing quicker access for patients to common surgical procedures by opening 17 new and expanded surgical hubs by June 2025, so more operations can be carried out.
Dedicated and protected surgical hubs are transforming the way the NHS providers elective care by focusing on high volume low complexity surgeries. There are currently 113 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of February 2025. These surgical hubs help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care, improving outcomes for patients and reducing pressures on hospitals.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average NHS waiting time for knee replacement surgery; and how many patients are currently waiting.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently 49,509 patients waiting for a knee replacement. The mean average National Health Service waiting time for this procedure is 28.7 weeks.
The Government is working to reduce the number of patients awaiting treatment across the country. The Elective Reform Plan, launched as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, sets out how we will get back to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by the end of this Parliament, and will also ensure that patients have the best possible experience of care.
We have set an ambition for 2025/26 that we reach 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks nationally, and for all trusts to deliver a minimum 5% improvement by March 2026.
The Elective Reform Plan has committed to providing quicker access for patients to common surgical procedures by opening 17 new and expanded surgical hubs by June 2025, so more operations can be carried out. Dedicated and protected surgical hubs are transforming the way the NHS provides elective care by focusing on high volume low complexity surgeries.
There are currently 113 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of February 2025. These surgical hubs help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care, improving outcomes for patients and reducing pressures on hospitals.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cost to the NHS of (1) hip replacement surgery, (2) knee replacement surgery, and (3) cataract surgery.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the financial year 2023/24, there were 120,172 hip procedures performed at a total cost of £1,241,784,028.35, with an average unit cost of £10,333.39. There were 86,781 knee procedures performed at a total cost of £737,241,451.39, with an average unit cost of £8,495.42. There were an additional 13,811 complex cases for hip or knee procedures performed at a total cost of £220,792,075.13, with an average unit cost of £15,986.68. The total cost for 246,995 cataract procedures was £363,849,348.97, with an average unit cost of £1,473.10.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many patients were recorded as waiting in accident and emergency for over 24 hours in January.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on accident and emergency performance. This includes information on those accident and emergency attendances that are 12 hours or longer for type one and two accident and emergency providers. The latest provisional data shows that in January 2025, there were a total of 172,515 such accident and emergency attendances.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many category 2 ambulance responses in England were over an hour in (1) November 2024, (2) December 2024, and (3) January 2025.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold the information requested. NHS England publishes monthly official statistics for ambulance response times. This includes data on the 90th centile response time performance for category 2 incidents.
The following table shows the total count of category 2 incidents in England for November 2024, December 2024 and January 2025 and the 90th centile response time data for category 2 incidents in England:
Month | Count of category 2 incidents | Category 2 incidents 90th centile response time in hours, minutes and seconds |
November 2024 | 395,741 | 1:30:47 |
December 2024 | 422,373 | 1:41:40 |
January 2025 | 401,225 | 1:16:26 |
Source: NHS England https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/