Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of when he will meet his target of providing an extra 62,000 neurology appointments in England in each year.

Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need. Currently, the waiting list stands at 7.48 million patient pathways, with over 6 million people waiting, including 235,000 on neurology waiting lists.

We will ensure that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, increasing performance to 65% by March 2026, as set out in the Elective Reform Plan. We will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments across all specialties, including neurology appointments, during our first year in Government, as a First Step in our commitment to ensuring that patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

Alongside the breadth of reforms and productivity efforts in the plan, we will increase activity, deliver improvements in patient experience, and reduce waiting times for neurology patients across the country.