Recommendation 16

We asked how confident NHSE was about the component programmes in its plan, particularly those aimed at increasing elective and diagnostic capacity. It told us that it did not have strong evidence for some of its programmes at present, but said it was building evaluation into its programmes on surgical hubs and community diagnostic centres.33 It said “the basis of a formal evaluation is clearly in place”.34 We hope that NHSE will take this responsibility to evaluate seriously. These are promising programmes but they must prove themselves in practice. We were concerned that NHSE had been unable to find its evaluation of a previous programme, elective accelerators, which provided £160 million to 12 local systems in 2021. The systems were supposed to increase their elective activity but in practice activity still fell short of pre-pandemic levels.35