Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of (a) the average waiting time, (b) the number of women waiting and (c) the number of women waiting over one year for a gynaecological appointment or procedure; what steps she is taking to help reduce waiting times for these appointments; and whether she has made an estimate of when waiting times will return to pre covid-19 levels.

As of September 2022, the median average waiting time for gynaecology treatment was 15.7 weeks. The information requested on the number of women waiting for an appointment or procedure is not held centrally.

The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’ sets out how the National Health Service will recover and expand elective services over the next three years, including gynaecological services. We have allocated more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available in 2021/2022 to increase elective activity. This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million additional checks and procedures and 30% further elective activity by 2024/25 than pre-pandemic levels.