Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve referral to treatment times in the London Borough of Redbridge.

As a result of COVID-19, there has been a severe impact on referral-to-treatment waiting times for providers across Barking, Havering and Redbridge, as with many across the country. NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with providers to put a robust strategy in place and all acute providers are working together closely to maximise capacity across north east London boroughs.

There is a plan in place to significantly reduce the current number of people waiting over the remainder of 2020/21, and this includes a monthly trajectory from the Phase Three response, with a focus on key specialties such as acute pain, trauma and orthopaedic surgery, urology and neurosurgery.