Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the data dashboard on UK gynaecology waits published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on 24 July 2024, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential reasons for differences in growth of waiting lists for (a) gynaecology and (b) other elective specialties.

It is unacceptable that patients are waiting too long to get the care they need, including the nearly 600,000 on gynaecology waiting lists.

We are looking into this issue to understand what is driving demand for gynaecology and what steps we could take to return to the 18-week standard. Women’s health hubs play a key role in shifting care from hospitals to the community. There are a range of efforts underway to address challenges identified, including support to trusts where performance is of concern, ongoing efforts to transform outpatient pathways, and the use of surgical hubs which provide high volume low complexity surgery, including for gynaecology.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission. We will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments per week, as a first step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks. The Government will prioritise women’s health as we build a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future, modernising care so that it takes place efficiently and closer to home, prioritising patient experience, and ensuring that regardless of what treatment you are waiting for, you will be seen, diagnosed, and treated in a timely way.