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 maximise NHS capacity.

The National Health Service is expanding the use of virtual wards to safely care for patients at home and the use of independent sector capacity. Patient discharges are being maximised, including the provision of updated hospital discharge guidance for local areas.

The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ is investing £8 billion in the recovery of elective services over the next three years. We are allocating £2.3 billion to increase the number of community diagnostic centres to 160 by March 2025 and £1.5 billion to support elective recovery, including the ongoing deployment of surgical hubs. This will deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million more checks, scans and procedures and 30% more elective activity by 2024/25.