WIREDGOV

Responding to the Labour Party’s announcement on first steps to clear the NHS backlog in five years, Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said:

‘Despite sustained efforts, the NHS waiting list for elective care remains stubbornly high, at 7.5 million. Long waits for care have been brought down before, but it takes time. It wasn’t until 2008 that the last Labour government got waiting times within the target. Clearing the backlog within five years will take real effort and focus, and may mean other ambitions in health and care will be slower to realise.

‘Offering weekend and evening appointments for planned treatment and outpatient clinics is a good idea and has already been shown to bring down long waits in parts of the NHS. Scaling this up will rely on having enough NHS staff to take on the extra shifts – not a given when so many report high levels of stress and burn out.

'Achieving this ambition to eradicate the backlog within five years will almost certainly require a swift resolution to ongoing industrial action. Addressing long waits for care will also need greater government focus on preventing ill health in the first place and, crucially, shifting more care outside of hospitals into the community, so that people’s conditions can be managed without the need for acute care. 

‘Labour’s commitment to increasing the number of CT and MRI scanners is welcome, but it is less clear what action the party would take to achieve its goal of increased efficiency in the health service.’