UK Inquiry Tracker

Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry

Opened: 26 Mar 2025 Parliament page

The NHS’ statutory waiting standards for planned non-emergency, or elective, care are that 92% of patients should begin treatment within 18 weeks. Patients on 59% of pathways, or 4.4m people, were waiting less than 18 weeks at the end of 2024. In 2022 NHS England (NHSE) launched three transformation programmes … Read more The NHS’ statutory waiting standards for planned non-emergency, or elective, care are that 92% of patients should begin treatment within 18 weeks. Patients on 59% of pathways, or 4.4m people, were waiting less than 18 weeks at the end of 2024. In 2022 NHS England (NHSE) launched three transformation programmes aiming to reduce waiting times for elective care. These will change how care is provided for surgery; for diagnostics; and for outpatients. Additional capital funding of £5.9bn was allocated for these programmes from 2022-23 to 2024-25. The PAC’s 2023 report on NHS backlogs and waiting times found that the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) oversaw years of decline in the NHS’s cancer and elective care waiting time performance and, even before the pandemic, did not increase capacity sufficiently to meet growing demand. Its 2025 report on the NHS’ financial sustainability warned of a lack of fresh thinking and decisive action within NHS England and DHSC paired with overly optimistic planning assumptions. The NAO’s 2025 report on NHSE’s management of elective care transformation programmes looked at the plans for recovering waiting times, which aim to achieve the statutory standard by 2029. Based on the report, the PAC will hear from senior officials at NHSE and DHSC on subjects including: Progress on targets to increase elective activity and end long waits for treatment; Progress across the three areas of diagnosis, surgery, and outpatients; and Governance and oversight of the transformation programmes. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Thursday 28 August 2025. Show less

7 Recommendations

22 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

9 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 12 events

1 Jun
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer NHS England and the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health relating to Reducing NHS waitin…

12 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive NHS England regarding Indicative Activity Plans (IAPs) and their impact on waiting list, 23 January 2026

19 Jan
2026

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-fifth report from Session 2024-26

24 Nov
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care relating to a follow up to the Committee’s oral evidence se…

19 Nov
2025

Report published

55th Report - Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care

13 Nov
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer of NHS England to the Chair relating to ICB roles and responsibilities (Elective care) following fr…

13 Nov
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Health and Social Care relating to overseas patients follow up from the Committee…

13 Nov
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer of NHS England to the Chair relating to several matters concerning elective transformation programm…

11 Sep
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

11 Sep
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care relating to clarification on the data provided on elective …

10 Sep
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Executive Officer at NHS England relating to …

10 Sep
2025

Correspondence

Letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care relating to further updates on figures ahead of the inquiry i…

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

11 Sep 2025

View on parliament.uk

Mark Cubbon · NHS England Matt Style · Department for Health and Social Care Professor Meghana Pandit · NHS England Samantha Jones · Department of Health and Social Care Sir Jim Mackey · NHS England

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
55th Report - Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care	HC 820	19 Nov 2025	29	Response document linked

Recommendations & Conclusions

29 results

2 Conclusion

55th Report - Reducing NHS waiting…

NHS England's outpatient transformation programme failed due to inadequate clinical engagement.

NHS England’s plans to transform outpatient services were not credible, even though it had already acknowledged that more efficient outpatient services would make a material difference to the waiting list. The outpatients transformation had aimed to free up capacity in … Read more

HM Treasury

Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care

Activity timeline 12 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

NHS England's outpatient transformation programme failed due to inadequate clinical engagement.

Establish early data collection to track costs and benefits for new and transformed services.

Require NHSE and Department to set out plans for elective care digital transformation and IT connectivity.

Require the Department to set out new plans for securing clinical engagement on outpatient transformation.

Require Department to confirm no unfunded commitments and assess costs of structural changes.

Committee gathered evidence on NHS England's elective care waiting time programmes

Multiple factors contribute to rising elective care demand and capacity shortfalls

NHS England consistently missed statutory and recovery elective care waiting targets

Increased diagnostic capacity overwhelmed by surging demand, stalling waiting time progress

Long elective care waiting times pose serious risks to patient health and mortality

Deprived communities and minority groups experience longer elective care waiting times

NHS England failed to reduce outpatient follow-up appointments, abandoning its 25% target

Outpatient transformation efforts failed to increase remote consultations and PIFU uptake

Outpatient transformation hampered by industrial action, under-resourcing, and organisational challenges

GP advice and guidance scheme demonstrates significant growth in specialist input

Department confirmed significant funding and operational numbers for diagnostic and surgical centres.

Diagnostic and surgical hubs show activity below planned levels, failing waiting list targets.

Diagnostic capacity rapidly absorbed by demand, compounded by confusion over surgical hub delivery numbers.

Surgical hub governance structures less developed, with metrics misaligned to actual activity outcomes.

Future transformation plans heavily rely on digital technology for patient-centred care delivery.

NHS digital transformation faces unique challenges; procurement processes hinder adoption of new technology.

Technology offers benefits, but many physicians lack essential hardware and software for remote outpatient care.

Clinical engagement for outpatient transformation proved challenging, failing to gain support for targets.

NHSE struggled with clinical engagement for outpatients programme, delaying reset despite slow progress.

NHSE working to improve clinical engagement for outpatients, but the fundamental care model requires change.

NHSE abolition announced alongside significant cost-cutting demands on Integrated Care Boards

Expected redundancies at NHSE and ICBs forecast to achieve substantial annual savings

Uncertainty persists regarding funding for NHSE and ICB redundancy compensation payments

Require a comprehensive impact study to accompany all large policy changes and projects

Correspondence 9 letters