In February 2023, the NHS published a delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care which stipulated a number of ambitions to reduce long waits, including eliminating:
104 week waits by July 2022
78 week waits by April 2023
65 week waits by March 2024
52 week waits by March 2025
To fulfil these ambitions the NHS has two months to eliminate 65 week waits and fourteen months to eliminate 52 week waits, which will require an understanding of the distribution of elective waiting lists by organisation, site and service to allow for better alignment of capacity to patient need.
The chart below shows the overall scale of the waiting list challenge. What this view doesn’t reveal is the different challenges faced in individual services as they address this demand alongside other planned and emergency work. Solutions have to be tailored to address these specific challenges and coupled with a dynamic operational approach that can flex as needs change over time.
Click here to access the NHS delivery plan.
Restoring and improving productivity has remained challenging for most Trusts nationally, but through our work we have implemented a number of initiatives that are delivering impact (c. 20% waiting list reductions), and in some cases, enable Trusts to generate additional revenue in year. Contact us today to find out more about CF’s work in this area.
