Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure sufficient staffing for NHS rheumatology services, including provision of multidisciplinary services.

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will put the National Health Service workforce on a sustainable footing so it can deliver the service model set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning by March 2029 to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, and we expect integrated care boards to arrange services to meet both this target and interim targets set out in planning guidance.

In March 2026, 70.4% of patients referred on rheumatology pathways were waiting within 18 weeks, exceeding our overall aim of 65%. This is a significant improvement on March 2025, when 65.9% of patients were waiting within 18 weeks.