Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the The Getting It Right First Time programme.

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is a national NHS England programme designed to improve treatment and care by reviewing health services in England.

The GIRFT team is working with systems and regions to help the National Health Service embed best practice in elective care, to reduce waiting times, improve patient outcomes and, ultimately, to support delivery of the commitment to return to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of all patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral-to-treatment, by March 2029.

Surgical hubs are part of the GIRFT High Volume Low Complexity programme and mainly focus on driving improvement in six high volume specialties. With GIRFT support, there are currently 114 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of March 2025. These surgical hubs help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care, improving outcomes for patients and reducing pressures on hospitals. GIRFT’s role also includes delivering an accreditation scheme for surgical hubs. To date, 44 surgical hubs have been accredited for clinical and operational excellence.

Within the Elective Reform Plan, the Government has committed to providing quicker access for patients to common surgical hub procedures by opening 17 new and expanded surgical hubs by June 2025 and ramping up the number of hubs over the next three years, so more operations can be carried out.

Through the GIRFT Further Faster programme, a cohort of 20 trusts, and their integrated care systems (ICS), chosen in areas of the greatest economic inactivity, are being given support to improve and streamline pathways for patients and spread good practice in areas with high levels of economic inactivity. All 20 trusts are working to deliver ‘High Flow Theatre’ lists and super clinics, not only to deliver rapid impact, but also to build into ‘business as usual’ pathways.