Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for NHS hospitals to re-commence (a) hip replacements and (b) other routine treatments.

We want routine NHS services to return for patients as quickly as possible, but this must be done in a safe and managed way, ensuring that we maintain the capacity for any further surge in COVID-19 activity. The resumption of non-urgent operations will be prioritised at local level based on local demands, ensuring that the most urgent cases are seen first, whilst ensuring surge capacity can be stood up again should it be needed.