Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the NHS has made in resuming non-covid-19 related work in hospitals and surgeries in England.

The National Health Service has continued to progress with resuming non-COVID-19 services. There was an increase of 13% in patients beginning their first cancer treatment within 31 days following a decision to treat in June 2020 compared to May, whilst the number of completed admitted pathways following a consultant-led referral for treatment increased by 73% over the same period.

As the NHS has continued to restore services, further guidance was issued to local NHS providers and commissioners on 31 July outlining the next phase of the NHS response to COVID-19 and concurrent non-COVID-19 activity. The focus is on accelerating the return of non-COVID-19 health services to near-normal levels, including making full use of available capacity between now and winter, whilst also preparing for winter demand pressures. This will be done alongside continued vigilance in light of any further COVID-19 spikes locally and possibly nationally.