Sir Keir Starmer is set to launch a plan to deliver millions more appointments across the NHS in a bid to cut waiting times to 18 weeks over the next five years.
The Prime Minister will explain how improving access to community diagnostic centers (CDCs) will help increase bookings by up to 500,000 people, along with 14 new surgical hubs and expansion of three existing hubs It’s planned.
Up to one million appointments could be freed up by giving patients the option to skip follow-up appointments, which are currently booked by default, the government has said.
Overall, the plan includes efforts to provide 2 million additional reservations by the end of next year.
The goal of the reform is that by the end of March 2026, an additional 450,000 patients will be treated within 18 weeks.
Figures released by NHS England last month showed an estimated 7.54 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of October, the lowest level since March 2024.
The last time the NHS hit its target of 92% of patients being treated within 18 weeks was in 2015, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The UK reforms will also see an overhaul of the NHS app, giving patients greater choice over where they book their appointments, as well as providing them with details such as results and waiting times.
The government says the first steps in the digital overhaul will be completed by March 2025, at which point more than 85% of patients in acute trusts will be able to view their booking details via the NHS app.
You can also contact your health care provider to receive updated information, including waiting times for treatment.
In the initiative to make one million appointments free, patients will be given more options than non-essential follow-up appointments, and GPs will receive expert advice from doctors before being referred. Funding will also be provided.
Sir Keir said: “This Government is committed to change and I am fighting every day to deliver it.
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Street: “Go as far as you can, as fast as you can.”
“The NHS backlog has ballooned in recent years, with millions of patients languishing on waiting lists, often in pain and fear. Lives have been put on hold. Potential is unfulfilled.
“This elective reform plan delivers on our promise to eliminate backlogs. Millions of additional appointments will be made. There will be greater choice and convenience for patients. Our staff will once again be We will be able to provide them with the standard of care they crave.”
The CDC will be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, whenever possible. Patients will have access to a wider range of appointments in more convenient locations, potentially increasing the pace of care.
The Government believes its plans will help deliver on one of Sir Keir’s six key promises to make the equivalent of 40,000 additional appointments a week in the first year.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised in October’s Budget to spend £22bn over the next two years to reduce waiting times in the NHS, but some industry insiders say labor shortages will make it difficult to achieve her ambitions. Some people are concerned that this may be the case.
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There are also concerns that giving patients a choice of where they are treated could put some hospitals in higher demand than others, but Health Secretary Wes Streeting said this was a “matter of principle”. said.
“When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, my parliamentary colleagues rushed to ask who my surgeon was, where I would go for treatment and whether I was exercising my right to choose on the NHS.” he said. .
“I was lucky because it turned out that I had one of the best kidney cancer surgeons in the country assigned to me by the NHS.
“But frankly, people like my mother, who is a cleaner, should have as much choice and power in the NHS as her son, the Health Secretary.”
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the government’s plans were an “ambitious blueprint”.
“The fundamental reforms in this plan will not only deliver millions more tests, appointments and surgeries, but will also allow us to do things differently, particularly for the NHS. The app offers greater convenience and puts more power in the hands of patients.”
