David Hare, Chief Executive of the NHS Partners Network, comments on NHS England's suspension last month of financial sanctions on some but not all providers:

“By introducing a differential sanctions regime for providers of NHS-funded services the national NHS bodies are sending a confusing message to patients and providers of NHS-funded services.

“There is no doubt that the NHS is facing real financial pressure and experiencing rising patient demand but it is important to maintain a fair playing field for all providers of NHS-funded care and to be crystal clear over the need to equally balance financial stability and performance. Sanctions have now been in place across the NHS for over a decade and can act as an important incentive to ensure that patients are treated within maximum waiting times, which are now considerably lower than when sanctions were first introduced.

“Having included the sanctions differential in contracts with providers it will now be important that the national NHS bodies closely monitor their impact and ensure that all providers of NHS-funded care are properly incentivised to eliminate long waits for their patients.”