Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to build long term capacity in hospitals to allow services to tackle the backlog of care for people with heart and circulatory diseases.

On 23 December, NHS England and NHS Improvement published their operational priorities for winter and 2021/22. This confirms that maximising capacity in all settings to treat non-COVID-19 patients and responding to other emergency demands are key priorities for the National Health Service this winter. Cardiac services have been highlighted as a priority area for improvement through developing system-based recovery plans that focus on addressing treatment backlogs and long waits.

To support the NHS in tackling the impact of COVID-19, a £3 billion, one-year package has been announced for 2021/22 as part of the Spending Review. This includes £1 billion to address backlogs and tackle long waiting lists, by facilitating up to one million extra checks, scans and additional operations. Additionally, the NHS is running an ongoing media campaign ‘Help us help you’, which includes clear messaging for patients to call 999 with symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. NHS services will continue to adapt to ensure that they are there for those who need them, as well as launching a major campaign urging people to come forward for help.