Recommendation 18

NHSE told us that the additional diagnostic capacity it has created has been quickly taken up by growth in demand and that the NHS was also trying to control non-elective urgent demand.37 We were told however that while it was still struggling with waiting times, patient satisfaction rates are around 93% and the expansion of capacity had been welcomed by the NHS. NHSE also told us that there had been issues separating out the amount of surgical work that has gone on in hubs, particularly for those that were part of an adjacent organisation. It also told us that work was ongoing to clarify the exact number of completed hubs as there had been some confusion as to the exact number of hubs delivered, as the NAO report had found that different numbers were being reported to the two different oversight boards.38 NHS England subsequently wrote to the Committee on 6 November to explain the unfortunate circumstances under which 32 Correspondence from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Health and Social Care, 10 September 2025 33 Correspondence from the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Executive Officer at NHS England, 1 September 2025 34 C&AG’s Report, para 2.10 35 Q 64 36 C&AG’s Report, para 2.16 37 Q 12 38 Qq 17-18 11 the management information system tracking Targeted Investment Fund schemes was not aligned with other governance processes. It considered the new National Capital Reporting System would allow a single source of truth in future.39