Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will implement the recommendations put forward by NHS Providers in April 2021 on reducing the backlogs in treatment and diagnosis for (a) heart valve disease and (b) other conditions accrued as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and with reference to those backlogs, if he will make it his policy for innovative treatments to be rapidly adopted to help (a) reduce the length of hospital stays and (b) increase treatment capacity.

While we have no plans to implement the specific recommendations made by NHS Providers, we are working to the same aims as we focus on restoring services. These ambitions, to increase capacity, invest in diagnostics, achieve efficiency and productivity gains, improve pathways, and use technology to improve patient care, are reflected in the National Health Service priorities and operational planning guidance for this year.

We are supporting a series of innovation initiatives to help reduce waiting list backlogs, including a pathway improvement programme, community diagnostic hubs and an elective accelerator programme. These innovations will help speed up diagnosis, increase capacity and reduce the length of hospital stays, with the latest data suggesting that 86.9% of procedures are carried out without an overnight stay. We hope to see further innovation delivered rapidly across NHS services to increase treatment capacity and improve patient experience, for those with heart valve disease and other conditions.