The King's Fund responds to the Prime Minister's speech on its Plan for Change and the NHS waiting list 'milestone'

Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech today on the government’s health ‘mission’ milestone of meeting the 18-week wait for planned hospital care, Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said:  

‘NHS waiting times for planned hospital care matter to patients and the public. The waiting list for operations, tests and procedures had ballooned long before the pandemic and a large number of people in this country are feeling the pain and anxiety of those waits.  

‘But hospital waits have never been – and should not be - the main measure of how the NHS is performing. Patients and the public are also struggling to get a GP appointment and unable to get support with social care. The 18-week target is an important hospital milestone, but it is not a milestone for our overall health service.  

‘The government appears to be reconsidering its earlier commitment to meet all current NHS targets within one parliamentary term. They are right to do so, but in choosing to prioritise a target for hospital care, they are locking the NHS into a hospital focus that could undermine more fundamental and long-lasting reform. To seriously drive change, ministers should conduct a more wide-ranging and fundamental review of health service targets so that they incentivise the improvements to services that patients need. 

‘The Prime Minister said today that meeting the 18-week waiting time target requires bold reform, and that this would be a sign the NHS is back on its feet and facing the future. In reality, achieving the decades-old 18-week target would mean that only one part of the NHS is back on its feet and largely facing the past not the future. If the NHS becomes too focused on achieving one hospital care target, it risks undermining efforts to prevent illness, move more care out of hospitals, and create an NHS ‘fit for the future.’ 

Notes to editors

1. This week The King’s Fund published a long read from our Chief Analyst and incoming Director of Policy, Siva Anandaciva, on whether the government can recover key NHS performance targets in this Parliament. It calls for the government to go further and conduct a fuller review of NHS targets.

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The King's Fund is an independent charity working to improve health and care in England. We help to shape policy and practice through research and analysis; develop individuals, teams and organisations; promote understanding of the health and social care system; and bring people together to learn, share knowledge and debate. Our vision is that the best possible health and care is available to all.