NHS Confederation responds to NHS delivering two million extra appointments

Responding to a press release from the Department of Health and Social Care, announcing that over two million extra NHS appointments have been delivered early, Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, said:

“The NHS is showing early signs of recovery, and it is positive news that many patients have received vital operations, scans, treatments, and consultations earlier than planned. NHS leaders and their teams have been working extremely hard to ramp up their productivity in the wake of Covid and industrial action, and in the face of relentless demand and pressure.

“While this progress should be welcomed, our members recognise this is a long game and further improvements are needed. They are fully behind the government’s elective reform plan, and innovations like surgical hubs and community diagnostic centres have proven to be effective in allowing more patients to be seen. However, our members have endured a very challenging winter, and with one of the most challenging financial settlements in recent years, there is little promise that next year will be significantly better.

“We welcome the government’s £13.6bn investment in NHS capital next year, but it is at least £3.3bn short of the £6.4 billion a year additional capital investment needed to help boost NHS productivity growth to 2 per cent per year, and as our recent report revealed, bureaucratic hurdles can often hinder the NHS in accessing this money.

“It is vital that the government and the NHS, as well as tackling the short-term problems in the system, delivers on the three shifts. As the NHS Confederation has said, the forthcoming 10-year Health Plan will need to work out how to do recovery and reform at the same time.”