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 the waiting times to see a breast cancer specialist in (a) Luton South constituency, (b) Luton Borough Council area and (c) Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group.

Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Clinical Commissioning Group is working with local providers to amend the two week referral process to include further advice and guidance for breast pain to reduce unnecessary referrals. The breast service has been managing demand and capacity by providing additional sessions with existing staffing out of hours.

Additionally, the Bedford and Luton and Dunstable Hospitals have been awarded a share of the £160 million national accelerator initiative to introduce new technology to address backlogs and increase capacity for elective care. This will allow a further 36 patients to be treated each week at each hospital.