Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the level of capacity in the independent health sector which can be used to help reduce waiting times in the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

The Elective Recovery Taskforce heard that service planning in the independent sector, including to help reduce waiting times, is best informed by close working relationships with local systems and confidence in patient flows. To better inform planning and capacity utilisation in the independent sector, we are working with NHS England to enhance the patient choice offer. At the point of referral, patients will be actively offered a list of providers, including local independent sector providers, which are clinically appropriate for their condition.

From October 2023, all patients waiting over 40 weeks who have not had a first outpatient appointment booked, or where a decision to treat a patient has been made but the patient does not have a date for their treatment, will be able to initiate a request to transfer to another provider via the Patient Initiated Digital Mutual Aid System. This will include independent sector providers where appropriate.

To reduce waiting times for diagnostic tests, NHS England recently announced 13 Community Diagnostic Centres run by the independent sector, creating capacity, and enabling treatments to be started sooner.