UK Inquiry Tracker

NHS Backlogs and waiting times

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 21 Oct 2021 Closed: 27 May 2022 Parliament page

The NHS in England was running at close to maximum capacity before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has led to a sharp drop in routine NHS activity, resulting in more people waiting for treatment, and waiting for longer . The Committee will question the senior officials at DHSC and NHS … Read more

5 Recommendations

18 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Event

Activity timeline 4 events

27 May
2022

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty Fourth report from Session 2021-22

16 Mar
2022

Report published

Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England

15 Dec
2021

Oral evidence

NHS Backlogs and waiting times

15 Dec
2021

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

NHS Backlogs and waiting times

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

15 Dec 2021

View on parliament.uk

NHS Backlogs and waiting times

Amanda Pritchard · NHS England Matthew Style · Department of Health and Social Care Professor Stephen Powis · NHS England Sir Chris Wormald · Department of Health and Social Care Sir James Mackey · NHS England

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England	HC 747	16 Mar 2022	23	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 results

7 Conclusion Acknowledged

Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs…

But plans are only one part of the explanation for deteriorating performance.

But plans are only one part of the explanation for deteriorating performance. This Committee’s June 2019 report NHS waiting times for elective and cancer treatment concluded that the Department had allowed NHS England to be selective about which standards it … Read more But plans are only one part of the explanation for deteriorating performance. This Committee’s June 2019 report NHS waiting times for elective and cancer treatment concluded that the Department had allowed NHS England to be selective about which standards it focused on, reducing accountability. We recommended that the Department and NHSE&I clarify to the Committee how NHSE should be held accountable, a recommendation with which the government agreed.11 We heard from the Department that it did not formally change the waiting times standards when waiting times performance declined before the 4 C&AG’s Report, pages 20, 27 5 NHS0040 Royal College of Emergency Medicine submission para 2 6 NHS0003 Royal College of Radiologists submission para 3 7 NHS0004 Royal College of Pathologists submission para 2; NHS 0020 Royal College of Surgeons submission para 10 8 Q24 9 Q27 10 Q26 11 Committee of Public Accounts, NHS waiting times for elective and cancer treatment, 100th report of session 2017–19, HC 1750, para 2; HM Treasury, Treasury Minutes Progress Report, CP313, November 2020, para 2.1, page 159 10 NHS backlogs and waiting times in England pandemic but it had accepted that given the pressure in the system clinicians would focus on the clinical priorities of individual patients instead.12 We asked the Department about how it planned to hold the NHS to account for the additional funding that it is now set to receive for elective recovery. An elective recovery plan had been scheduled for publication in November 2021 but had been delayed.13 The Department told us it had so far been interrupted from focussing on elective care recovery by the Omicron wave of COVID-19 but that it accepted the need for detailed plans encompassing the necessary elements of funding, capacity, workforce, organisation and clinical decision-making.14 (The recovery plan was subsequently published in February 2022).15 The Department also explained that it would continue to set the top-level measures for t Show less

Government Response

The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation, noting the mandate to NHS England sets out the strategic goals that the government has set for NHS England in the year ahead, including objectives on recovery of wider NHS services impacted by the pandemic, and on further delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan.

HM Treasury

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9 Conclusion Acknowledged

Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs…

We sought reassurance that all additional funding would be well spent and asked for examples...

We sought reassurance that all additional funding would be well spent and asked for examples of the measurable improvements that we could reasonably expect to see. We heard generally from the Department that with the additional £8 billion recovery funding … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the recommendation and published the Elective Recovery Plan which sets out the goals for tackling the elective care and cancer backlogs over the course of the next 3 years. The government plans to eliminate waits of longer than a year for elective care by March 2025, and to have 95% of patients needing a diagnostic test receive it within six weeks by March 2025.

HM Treasury

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23 Conclusion Acknowledged

Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs…

NHSE&I emphasised the flexibility of the NHS workforce, as evidenced throughout the pandemic.

NHSE&I emphasised the flexibility of the NHS workforce, as evidenced throughout the pandemic. It said that this workforce flexibility now needed to continue as part of transforming the NHS for the future and recovering elective and cancer care.51 In written … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees that ensuring that the NHS has a workforce in the right numbers and with the right skills to deliver service commitments to patients is crucial and is already expanding the size of the workforce, aligning workforce planning with service and financial planning and looking at the long-term strategic drivers of workforce demand and supply.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 8 of 5 classified

Accepted 5

Acknowledged 3

Total 5 recs + 18 conclusions