Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for joint replacement surgery in Gosport constituency.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission and a top priority for the Government, including waits for joint replacement surgery. We have committed to achieving the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by the end of this Parliament. As a first step, we will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments during our first year in Government, which is the equivalent to 40,000 per week.

We are also supporting dedicated and protected surgical hubs to help reduce elective surgery wait times, including for joint replacement, by focusing on high volume low complexity surgeries, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, transforming the way the National Health Service provides elective care.

As of November 2024, there are currently 110 operational surgical hubs across England. There are currently two operational surgical hubs within the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Integrated Care System offering trauma and orthopaedics services, including joint replacement, those being the Lymington Hospital Elective Hub, and the Winchester Country Hospital Elective Hub. Patients in the Gosport constituency can be referred to the two surgical hubs for trauma and orthopaedics services.

The Department and NHS England will set out details on the allocation of further funding at the earliest opportunity, including how many new surgical hubs will be established.