Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department’s elective recovery plan will include details on how (a) hospital bed and (b) surgical capacity should be prioritised to ensure the continuation of trauma and orthopaedic operations throughout the 2021 winter period.
The Department’s elective recovery plan will set out the long-term ambitions for recovery. Prioritisation of services will continue on the basis of clinical need and then by the length of time patients have been waiting. Plans for bed and surgical capacity, including the continuation of trauma and orthopaedic operations, will be considered as part of winter planning.