Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 1
Ninth report - Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic
Published 6 Jan 2022
Paragraph 12
Addressed to Department of Health and Social Care
Health and Social Care Committee Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Our key new recommendation is that, by April 2022, the Department of Health and Social Care works with NHS England to produce a broader national health and care recovery plan that goes beyond the elective backlog to emergency care, mental health, primary care, community care and social care. It should be sensitive to the needs of local populations, incorporate the plans already announced in the ten-year plan, and explain how they will be delivered by the new Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). That plan must also set out a clear vision for what ‘success’ in tackling the backlog will look like to patients. In setting those metrics for success, the plan must take account of the risk that a reliance on numerical targets alone will deprioritise key services and risk patient safety. Instead, it must embrace a range of indicators to demonstrate that hidden backlogs are also being tackled and compassionate cultures encouraged.
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Ninth report - Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic (HC 599), paragraph 12, 6 January 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 May 2022 (deadline 6 March 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response to the Health and Social Care Select Committee's report on clearing the pandemic backlog sets out how it is working with its arm's length bodies to help the NHS clear the elective care waiting list.
- The response is to the Committee's ninth report of session 2021-22, 'Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic'.
- It was published by the Department of Health and Social Care on 12 May 2022, with an accessible HTML version added on 17 May 2022.
- The page summary does not state which recommendations the government accepts or disagrees with, or give specific commitments or dates. Readers should consult the full 34-page response for these.