Campaign Reply: NHS Backlog

My colleague the Health Secretary has made clear that reducing waiting lists for NHS treatment is one of his key priorities in the role over the coming months.

In February 2022, the Government published a plan for recovering elective care, with a clear commitment to eliminate long waits for treatment. By 2025, no one should be waiting more than a year for elective care in the NHS, and waiting times for referral to treatment for cancer care should return to pre-pandemic levels. The NHS has met its target that no one should be waiting longer than two years for treatment, and significant progress was made in reducing the number of patients waiting 78 weeks or more by April 2023.

Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) - backed by £2.3 billion of funding - are making a significant impact in reducing the Covid-19 backlogs by delivering an extra 3.2 million vital tests, checks and scans to date. The Government is committed to rolling out 160 CDCs across England by 2025.

Over 50 new surgical hubs will open across England, providing at least 100 more operating theatres and over 1,000 beds. This will allow hundreds of thousands more patients to have quicker access to vital procedures and help tackle the care backlog.

The Chancellor made a number of spending commitments at the Autumn Statement in 2022, making available £8 billion of funding for the NHS and adult social care in England in 2024-25. As part of this, the Government is investing an additional £3.3 billion in 2023-24 and 2024-25 to support the NHS in England and improve elective performance.

The Government has published its Urgent and Emergency Care Plan alongside an investment of £1 billion to deliver 5,000 more hospital beds compared to the numbers originally planned for 2022-23, and to put over 800 more ambulances on the road. This will speed up discharge from hospitals, free up beds for patients needing urgent and emergency care and, ultimately, reduce pressures on hospitals.

NHS England will also deliver year-on-year improvements in A&E waiting times over 2023-24 and 2024-25, as well as improved access to general practice, so that everyone who needs an appointment with their GP practice can get one within two weeks, and those who need an urgent appointment can get one on the same day. Furthermore, a primary care recovery plan will be published shortly to support the vital front door to the NHS through primary care.

I am confident that the Government’s plan will make an important difference in reducing waiting times over the next few years.