Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 13
55th Report - Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care
Published 19 Nov 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In 2022 our predecessor Committee was told by NHSE that the area where it has most potential to free up clinical time and see more patients is in outpatients services because “80% of the waiting list is tied 18 NIHR Policy Research Unit on the Economics of Health and Social Care Systems and the NIHR Policy Research Unit on Economic Methods of Evaluation in health and care interventions (NWT0040) 19 NHS England, NHS publishes waiting list breakdowns to tackle health inequalities, england.nhs.uk, 17 July 2025 [accessed 30 September 2025]; NHS England, Waiting List Minimum Data Set (WLMDS) Information, 2025 [accessed 30 September 2025] 20 Q 15 21 Q 47 22 C&AG’s Report, paras 11, 2.21 and 2.23-2.24 9 up by outpatients”.23 NHSE told us at our September 2025 evidence session that outpatients remains the key to solving elective waiting lists, and that it was committed to reducing waiting times by transforming outpatient care. Making use of remote consultations and patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) aimed to address concerns in the clinical community that patients who need a follow-up might not get one if there was too much focus on reducing the number of follow-up appointments.24 However, the NAO reported that the proportion of outpatient appointments delivered remotely actually declined during the programme from 21.5% in June 2022 to 18.8% in November 2023 against a target of 25%. NHSE originally aimed to increase of PIFU take-up by 5% by March 2023 but the target has now been extended to 2029.25
From: Public Accounts Committee, 55th Report - Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care (HC 820), 19 November 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-fifth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 19 January 2026).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-fifth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with the Committee's recommendations, and for most it says the recommendation is already implemented, with target dates for the rest.
- On diagnostic waits, it says the NHS Medium Term Planning Framework requires all systems to achieve the 1% standard for six week waits, with a plan for reaching it "by March 2029".
- On outpatients, it says it is "essential to transform outpatient care" to reach 92% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks by March 2029; further details "will be published in due course".
- On digital and data, it sets target dates: January 2026 for a single Planned Care Capital Assurance Board, and April 2026 for programmes to tackle digital maturity gaps, while acknowledging "the system is not where it needs to be".
- On unfunded announcements, it says it "will aim to ensure" announcements come with a delivery and affordability plan "wherever possible and appropriate", and that it will publish an impact assessment for the primary legislation on NHS England's integration into DHSC.