Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of working with private hospitals and private health providers to reduce the level of cancer patients unable to access care promptly.

The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to work closely with the independent hospital sector (IS) through the ongoing national contract and through other local arrangements with other independent providers to deploy the IS facilities and workforce we need to deliver vital cancer services.

The effective use of IS capacity is key to recovery plans for diagnostics, such as endoscopy and imaging investigations, in particular for managing the expected surge in urgent referrals in the coming months.