Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times; and if he will make a statement.

Under the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service remains committed to improving access to elective care. We're providing an extra £33.9 billion a year by 2023/24 to grow the amount of planned surgery year on year to reduce the waiting list.

In the shorter term, the NHS Accountability Framework for 2019-20 outlines how NHS England and NHS Improvement will continue ongoing service development, so that performance is maintained and improved. This includes the commencement of the redesign of outpatient services, which will reduce the need for unnecessary face to face appointments in hospitals, saving patients time and freeing up medical and nursing time.