Waiting lists have been cut three times faster in some parts of the country, thanks to specialist NHS teams.

The Further Faster 20 (FF20) programme has sent teams of experts to 20 hospital trusts across England with the highest levels of economic inactivity, with the aim of cutting the waiting list and boosting growth.

The NHS will now take the learnings from the programme and see how they can be implemented across the rest of the health service.

The FF20 programme sees teams work alongside local staff to transform how planned operations and outpatient appointments are delivered. This includes High Flow Theatre Lists, where experts perform surgery with theatres operating continuously, meaning planned operations can be completed quicker.

South Tess created an extra 4,000 appointments, by changing the way it ran outpatient clinics and Bolton cut wasted slots by 20% through better capacity management.

Results from the trial found that over the 12 months from October 2024 to October 2025, waiting lists in FF20 areas fell three times faster than the rest of the country - with a 4.2 per cent reduction compared to 1.4 per cent nationally.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: "We said our Elective Reform Plan would get waiting lists down, and one year on that’s exactly what it’s delivering. Along with record investment, we’re doing things differently to get patients seen quicker, back to work and living their lives.

"By sending crack teams into hospitals to supercharge care, opening more Community Diagnostic Centres longer and later, and cutting wasteful spending, we’re turning the tanker round and patients are starting to feel the difference.

"It will be a long road, but together with NHS staff, we are fixing our health service and make it fit for the future and beyond."
 

Mark Cubbon, NHS England’s National Director for Planned Care, said: "NHS staff have been relentless in their efforts to bring waiting times down, and today’s figures show patients are starting to see the benefits – not only getting the care they need faster but also being supported back into the job market.

"The last year has seen the NHS take great strides to deliver more tests and scans closer to home, and cut unnecessary and time-consuming appointments and processes, so that people can get the surgery they need faster.

"The NHS will continue to deliver on the Elective Reform Plan and ensure people can get the treatment they need in a timely manner."