Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of regional variation in access to 24/7 interventional radiology services in England.

The Elective Reform Plan, which was published in January 2025, committed to increasing surgical and diagnostic capacity for services such as interventional radiology. This is a step towards returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment.

As a result of spending reviews in 2021 and 2025, diagnostic interventional radiology received capital funding for four interventional radiology suites.

The Government has also committed £2.3 billion across diagnostics for the next three financial years. Trusts and regions are currently going through a competitive bidding process for this diagnostic funding, which is expected to conclude in spring 2026.