NHS Confederation responds to new modelling by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on 18-week target

Responding to new modelling by the Institute for Fiscal Studies which shows that increasing hospital activity alone is highly unlikely to be enough to meet the NHS 18-week target, Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, said:

“The 18-week waiting time target was always going to be challenging to meet, but it is one where NHS leaders share the government’s ambition in doing all they can to achieve it.

“The NHS has a plan in place to reform the delivery of elective care and this is starting to pay off as seen with the extra 2 million elective appointments delivered between July and November last year compared to the previous year.

“NHS leaders and their staff are using numerous innovative ways to drive down the waiting list backlog, including providing improved advice and guidance to patients which can lead to them coming off waiting lists voluntarily.

“However, despite these efforts and the progress that has already been made, recent announcements on the reorganisation of NHS England, coupled with significant cuts to ICB and NHS trust budgets, may well make it harder to hit the target within the government’s timeframe.”