Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of community diagnostic hubs in rural areas.

We have committed to getting back to the 18-week standard by the end of this Parliament, addressing the unacceptably long waits experienced by too many people. The Department is working with NHS England on a reform plan for elective care, which will be published in the coming weeks, and will set out more detail on the plans for more timely, accessible, and accurate diagnostic testing.

Approximately £1.5 billion of additional capital funding has been allocated in the Budget for 2025/26 to support National Health Service performance across secondary and emergency care. This investment includes the purchasing of new diagnostic scanners, which will reduce waiting times and increase diagnostic capacity outside of hospitals, in communities and primary care, including in Community Diagnostic Centres (CDC). Details of how this investment will be spent are currently being developed with NHS England.

All existing CDC locations have been chosen based on robust guidance to ensure that they meet certain specifications in order to reduce health inequalities, and integrated care boards were responsible for making recommendations on where there was the greatest need across their areas, including in rural areas. This includes ensuring that they have good transport links to improve access to diagnostic tests for the communities where the need is greatest.