Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

NHS Backlogs and waiting times

Status: Closed Opened: 21 Oct 2021 Closed: 27 May 2022 5 recommendations 18 conclusions 1 report

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 England on the current position … Show more

Reports

1 report

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

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items

8 Conclusion Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and … Accepted in Part

The C&AG’s Report included two plausible scenarios under which the waiting list will be even...

The C&AG’s Report included two plausible scenarios under which the waiting list will be even longer in 2025 than it was in 2021. One of these scenarios assumed that the NHS would achieve the 30% increase in activity that is now the government’s stated aim. We asked why more could … Read more

Government response AI summary

The government agreed with the committee's observation, acknowledging that the overall NHS waiting list is likely to worsen before improving and pointing to the existing Elective Recovery Plan. It further committed to working with NHSE&I and stakeholders to develop future funding proposals for the next …

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HM Treasury

12 Conclusion Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and … Accepted in Part

The University of Manchester’s Voices of COVID-19 project has interviewed over 2,000 NHS staff to...

The University of Manchester’s Voices of COVID-19 project has interviewed over 2,000 NHS staff to provide a national collection of testimonies in partnership with the British Library. This evidence highlights the concerns of frontline NHS staff regarding the public dissatisfaction they face and the NHS’s lack of capacity to deal … Read more

Government response AI summary

The government agreed with the committee's observation, stating that better patient information and support is central to the Elective Recovery Plan and highlighted the launch and planned expansion of the My Planned Care platform to provide personalized support and information to patients awaiting treatment.

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HM Treasury

21 Conclusion Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and … Accepted in Part

Among comparable OECD countries the UK has relatively low numbers of hospital beds, nurses and...

Among comparable OECD countries the UK has relatively low numbers of hospital beds, nurses and doctors per 1,000 population and also carries out relatively low numbers of advanced diagnostic examinations.46 NHSE&I told us that it would take two to three years before there was a material increase in NHS capacity. … Read more

Government response AI summary

The government agreed with the committee's observation, referring to the Elective Recovery Plan which includes multi-year capital investment in diagnostics, elective capacity, and technology. It committed to delivering up to 100 more Community Diagnostic Centres across the country by 2025 to increase diagnostic capacity.

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HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session

Date	Witnesses
15 Dec 2021	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	View ↗

Who gave evidence

5 witnesses

Witness	Organisation	Sessions
Amanda Pritchard · Chief Executive Officer	NHS England	1
Matthew Style · Director General for Secondary Care and Integrati…	Department of Health and Social Care	1
Professor Stephen Powis · National Medical Director	NHS England	1
Sir Chris Wormald · Permanent Secretary	Department of Health and Social Care	1
Sir James Mackey · Chief Executive	NHS England	1