Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made on reducing waiting lists for planned care in the North West.

Cutting waiting lists for elective care is one of this Prime Minister’s top priorities. The Delivery Plan for Tackling the COVID-19 Backlog of Elective Care outlines how the National Health Service will bring down waiting times across all elective services. To support this plan and tackle waiting lists the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to drive up and protect elective activity. We are making good progress on tackling the longest waits, to ensure patients get the care they need when they need it.

In July 2022, the NHS successfully met the first target in our plan to virtually eliminate waits of over two years, excluding patients waiting by choice or due to complex specialties. The NHS then worked hard to deliver the next ambition to eliminate waits of 18 months or more. Thanks to the incredible work of NHS staff, NHS England's official statistics show that as of March 2024, we have virtually eliminated waits of over 18 months.

Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting times data is published monthly by NHS England:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/