Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of recruitment freezes in the NHS diagnostics workforce on plans to ensure same day scan results in Community Diagnostic Centres.

We are aware of cases where trusts have put recruitment restrictions in place for diagnostic services. How systems and trusts resource plan internally within their budgets is a matter for local discretion, and as such we will not be taking action at a national level.

The National Health Service is committed to maintaining timely and high-quality diagnostic services, including delivering same-day scan results in Community Diagnostic Centres wherever possible.

As set in the Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, we will introduce more straight-to-test pathways, deliver the optimal standards of tests per hour, and make better use of technology, including by upgrading the NHS app. These initiatives intend to drive efficiencies within diagnostic pathways and support patients to be tested more quickly, using existing capacity.

Investment in recent years has also enabled the NHS to grow the diagnostics workforce. This includes an increase in the number of specialty training places for key roles, such as radiologists, radiographers, and other diagnostic professionals, alongside initiatives to improve retention and reduce reliance on outsourcing.

This summer we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan, to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again. We will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.