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 improve the waiting times for patients referred to NHS hospital trusts for (a) hearing and (b) sight loss.

We are taking action to recover elective services, including for patients with hearing and sight loss, by working towards the targets set out in the Elective Recovery Plan and providing the National Health Service with record levels of staffing and funding. To support elective recovery, we plan to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, supported by a £5.9 billion investment in capital, including for new beds, equipment, and technology.

This funding could deliver the equivalent of around nine million more checks and procedures, including for patients referred to NHS hospital trusts for hearing and sight loss, and a significant part of this funding will be invested in staff, both in terms of capacity and skills.

£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. Most of this will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services. The funding will also be used to increase capacity for imaging and improving digital diagnostics. Large CDC hubs provide ophthalmology and audiology tests.