Prime Minister Keir Starmer has outlined plans detailing how the government would now “roll up its sleeves” to reduce waiting lists at the NHS.
Part of that strategy will allow NHS app users to choose from a wide range of provider – including in the independent sector.
He said: “2025 is about rebuilding Britain, and rebuilding our NHS is the cornerstone of that.”
Starmer said today that some of the strategies to cut waiting times would include greater flexibility for patients to make appointments, improvements to the NHS app, and the opening of more local diagnostic centres.
“That will make a massive difference to waiting times,” he said.
On the £25bn in the budget for the NHS this year, Starmer said: “Let me be crystal clear, that money will be used, not as it has been in the past as just papering over the cracks. That’s the definition of the sticking plaster politics that we were elected to change.”
Planned NHS app upgrades will enable patients requiring non-emergency elective treatment to:
- View and manage appointments at a time and place that is convenient to them, reducing missed appointments, which are costly to the NHS – in 2023/24, there were 8 million missed appointments in elective care
- Choose from a wide range of providers, including in the independent sector
- Book diagnostic tests through the NHS app at convenient locations, such as a community diagnostic centres (CDCs) in a local shopping centre
- Receive test results quickly through the app before choosing the next step – whether a remote consultation or surgery – at a convenient time and location
Starmer said: “This is the year we roll up our sleeves and reform the NHS”, and he promised to deliver an NHS “fit for the future”.”
Health & Protection reported last month that the NHS waiting list improved by 32,000 people in October, standing at 7,541,373 treatment pathways waiting to be completed in October – up from 7,573,212 in September.
Starmer’s comments today were in keeping with comments he made in September last year, when Health & Protection reported that he had committed to the “biggest reimagining” of the NHS since its launch in 1948, telling the service it needs to “reform or die”.
He added artificial Intelligence (AI) would also be used to greater effect.
But Starmer also said he wanted the NHS to be “hungry for innovation.”
He said: “That is the only way to face up to the challenges of the future.”
Another issue to clear up was money wastage.
He said: “Far too much money is wasted on inefficient care. That has to stop because we cannot afford it.”
The NHS cannot continue to be a “national money pit” he said.
Starmer said: “To catapult the service into the future, we need an NHS that is reformed from top to bottom.”
Elective Reform Plan
The Elective Reform Plan, which was published today by NHS England, sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week referral to treatment target by the end of this Parliament.
That includes expanded use of community diagnostic centres so that more people will be able to access tests and checks while going about their daily lives.
The NHS will also increase the number of surgical hubs, which help protect planned care from the impact of seasonal and other pressures.
The plan intends to drive forward progress on the government’s first steps commitment to deliver two million extra appointments in its first year, equivalent to 40,000 every week. The reforms will put patients first, harness technology to support staff and help the NHS to do things more efficiently.