Surgery: West Bromwich
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for elective surgeries in West Bromwich constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth
Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission and a top priority for the Government, as we get the National Health Service back on its feet. Equality of both access to care and outcomes will be at the heart of building an NHS that is fit for the future.
We have committed to achieving the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by the end of this Parliament. As a first step to achieving this, we will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week across the country, and will increase the number of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other tests, that are needed to reduce elective and cancer waits.
NHS providers, including those serving the West Bromwich constituency, are focused on reducing waiting lists for planned treatment, and specifically focusing on patients waiting over 65 weeks by the end of September.
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