Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the number of people waiting for breast reconstruction surgery after being accepted as suitable patients has been in each year since 2020.
A count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a main procedure of 'breast reconstruction' and an elective admission, showing mean and median wait in days for the period 2020 – 2025 is set out in the table below.
Calendar Year | FCEs | Duration of elective wait mean (days) | Duration of elective wait median (days) |
2020 | 932 | 197 | 127 |
2021 | 1,183 | 235 | 103 |
2022 | 1,712 | 284 | 165 |
2023 | 1,572 | 310 | 245 |
2024 | 1,795 | 298 | 224 |
2025 | 1,837 | 246 | 141 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England
Data on the number of people waiting for breast reconstruction surgery after being accepted as suitable patients is not held in the format requested, as breast reconstruction waits cannot be disaggregated from the broader treatment groups within which they are recorded.