Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2020 to 84711, what progress he has made on tackling the waiting time for phlebotomy appointments in the London Borough of Redbridge.

The National Health Service is taking action locally to improve the waiting times for non-urgent blood tests. In order to create additional capacity, North East London Foundation Trust increasing phlebotomy staffing levels through redeployment, recruitment, staff bank and agency. Staff are being seconded from Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Trust to provide additional capacity and a further eight administrators are now in place to improve the booking service.

In Redbridge, three additional blood testing clinics are already open and will now be extended until at least April 2021. Capacity will be used across the local system to help ensure patients are seen at the sites with the shortest waiting times.