The government has set out a blueprint to address backlogs built up during the pandemic and tackle long waits for care with a massive expansion in capacity for tests, checks and treatments.
The ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’, announced by Health Secretary Sajid Javid and NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard, will see dozens more community diagnostic centres built. More than 100 diagnostic centres will also be rolled out, with the increase in capacity coming on the back of the NHS accelerating the rollout of these ‘one stop shops’ over the last year, with 66 set to be in use across England by the end of March – 26 more than previously planned.
The plan will also give patients greater control over their own health and offer greater choice of where to get care if they are waiting too long for treatment.
Teams of specialists will be deployed to help patients prepare for their op, and groups of clinicians and teams will be able to get instant access to test results, offering patients faster clinical advice.
New surgical hubs will also be added to the network of 122 already operating across the country, helping ensure that unless people chose to postpone, the longest time patients could wait will reduce so that by March 2025 patients aren’t waiting longer than a year for surgery.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Javid also stated that the will increase capacity to deliver more procedures and scans in each of the next three years, to around nine million more tests and checks by 2025. This will mean that over a three-year period, patients will be offered around 17 million more diagnostic tests – an increase in capacity of a quarter compared with the three years prior to the pandemic.
Pritchard said: “As we move out of the Omicron wave the NHS is applying the same determination and ‘can do’ spirit we have displayed throughout the pandemic, to address backlogs in routine care that have inevitably built up, and reduce long waits.
“That cannot happen overnight but we are determined to make the best possible use of the additional investment and take the best from our pandemic response, including smarter use of digital care and flexible working between teams and trusts, while building this additional diagnostic capacity that will help to accelerate progress. As we have always said throughout the pandemic, it is vitally important that anybody who has health needs continues to come forward, so that staff can help you with the best options for your care.”
Alongside existing clinical standards for urgent and emergency care, mental health, cancer and planned care, the NHS will deliver on: eliminating waits of longer than a year for elective care by March 2025; no waits longer than two years for an elective treatment by July; eliminating waits of over 18 months by April 2023; and delivering around 30 per cent more elective activity by 2024/25 than before the pandemic, after accounting for the impact of an improved care offer.
