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 reduce waiting lists for heart care treatments, in the context of recent statistics published by the British Heart Foundation on trends in the number of premature deaths from heart and circulatory diseases.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission. The waiting list at the end of July stood at 7.62 million patient pathways, with 417,864 incomplete pathways waiting for treatment for cardiology.

We will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments per week, including in cardiology services, as a First Step in our commitment to ensuring patients can expect to be treated within 18 weeks.

We will be supporting NHS Trusts to deliver these through innovation, sharing best practice to increase productivity and efficiency, and ensuring the best value is delivered.

This government is committed to putting patients first. This means making sure that patients across all specialities, including cardiology, are seen on time and ensuring that people have the best possible experience during their care.