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 meeting his NHS Planning Guidance target of 25% of outpatient attendances being delivered remotely by telephone or video consultation.
NHS England is monitoring the use of virtual consultations as part of the Outpatients Transformation Programme. During 2021/22, there were 5.3 million first tele-consultations and 16.6 million subsequent tele-consultations, protecting access to services and reducing pressures on hospital outpatient clinics. In 2021/22, approximately 23% of all attendances were conducted by virtual consultation.