Conclusion 13

For several years now this Committee has been reporting on the increasingly poor performance against waiting times standards for A&E and cancer, and the growing waiting lists for elective treatments.26 Although the NHS delivered increased activity in 2018–19, patient waiting times continued to slip. For example, performance against the target that 95% of patients should be seen within four hours fell to 88.1% from 88.3% in 2017–18.27 NHSE&I explained that a clinical review of standards for urgent and emergency care, mental health, elective care and cancer services has been ongoing for nearly two years. It told us that the review is focussing on whether the standards set to measure care are appropriate for the service being provided, but that this work has been put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.28