Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all possible alternatives are considered across England to tackle NHS waiting lists.

The use of surgical hubs and community diagnostics centres (CDCs) is being expanded to increase capacity in planned elective services, in addition to alternative capacity with independent providers and engaging with patients to understand choices made regarding their care. An Elective Recovery Taskforce has been established to determine how the National Health Service can use additional independent provider capacity to address waiting times.

We are investing in up to 160 CDCs which will deliver up to 17 million tests by March 2025. There are currently 91 CDCs operating, which have delivered more than 2.5 million additional tests as of November 2022. In England there are 89 elective surgical hubs focusing on providing high volume, low complexity surgery. The NHS has eliminated waiting times of two years or more for elective procedures. We aim to eliminate waiting times of eighteen months or more by April 2023 and waiting times of over 65 weeks by March 2024.