Elective Surgery Waiting List Disparities
Disparities in elective surgery waiting lists, particularly affecting women, and the lack of financial support for patients to travel.
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#25 - Prioritise longest elective surgery waiting lists and provide financial support for women's travel
Measures to reduce waiting lists for elective surgery should prioritise areas where waiting lists are longest and disparities greatest. The NHS should provide financial support to women to allow them to travel further to access care earlier.
Matched on
terms: disparitie, elective, list, surgery
Committee recommendation
94match
#6 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
For the next few years it is likely that waiting time performance for cancer and elective care will remain poor and the waiting list for elective care will continue to grow. The UK has low numbers of healthcare resources per person compared with similar countries and actions taken now to increase its resources will likely take years to...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
Committee recommendation
94match
#5 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
Waiting times for elective and cancer treatment are too dependent on where people live and there is no national plan to address this postcode lottery. In September 2021, patients in the worst-performing geographic areas were more than twice as likely as patients in the best-performing areas to have been waiting over 18 weeks for elective care or more...
Matched on
terms: disparitie, elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
94match
#4 - Require NHSE and Department to set out plans for elective care digital transformation and IT connectivity.
We are not confident that the Department is being realistic about the immense effort needed to reduce NHS elective care waiting times, and see a significant risk that digital solutions are being treated as a ‘cure- all’ as the 10 Year Plan is being implemented. While NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care have outlined...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
Committee recommendation
93match
#2 - Thirty-Eighth Report - Managing NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
NHS England was over-optimistic about the circumstances in which the NHS would be trying to recover elective and cancer care. In our first report on NHS backlogs and waiting times in March 2022, we reported our concern that “officials are too optimistic about the resilience of NHS services in the short- and medium- term, particularly as NHS staff...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
Committee recommendation
90match
#20 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
We asked about very long-waiters in different areas and what action NHSE&I was taking to reduce them. It told us that all areas had had the same expectation placed upon them, to attempt to reduce the number of patients who had been waiting for more than two years by the end of 2021–22. It accepted that some areas...
Matched on
terms: disparitie, elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
90match
#7 - Multiple factors contribute to rising elective care demand and capacity shortfalls
We also received written submissions from a range of individuals and organisations including clinicians and academics, royal colleges representing medical disciplines, care providers, think tanks and charitable organisations. A full list of the written evidence we received is available on the inquiry page of the Committee’s website.11 Particular issues and concerns drawn to our attention included: • demand...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
Committee recommendation
89match
#4 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
It will be very challenging for the NHS to focus sufficiently on the needs of patients when it comes to dealing with backlogs, both patients already on waiting lists and those who have avoided seeking or been unable to obtain healthcare in the pandemic. NHSE&I is concerned about those people who have avoided or been unable to obtain...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
GIRFT recommendation
89match
Gastroenterology
Review and expand endoscopy capacity by revisiting working models, waiting lists and departmental resources. a) Monitor inpatient endoscopy demand, and explore using different models to manage demand, such as emergency and elective lists. b) Liaise with NHS England and NHS Improvement to review options, including possible financial incentives, to support trusts to expand their physical endoscopy capacity (that...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
Committee recommendation
87match
#11 - Deprived communities and minority groups experience longer elective care waiting times
In July 2025 NHSE started publishing new data alongside the existing monthly Referral to Treatment Waiting Times data that showed that people from deprived communities and minority backgrounds are more likely to be waiting longer than 18 weeks for care than other groups.19 NHSE told us that one of the challenges it faces is ensuring equity of access...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
87match
#10 - Long elective care waiting times pose serious risks to patient health and mortality
We received written evidence that long waiting times can put patients at risk. Evidence from Dr Rob Findlay noted that if it is not known what is wrong with undiagnosed patients then some of them will unexpectedly turn out to have a clinically urgent condition such as cancer.17 The National Institute 12 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.2 and 1.7-1.8...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
87match
#8 - NHS England consistently missed statutory and recovery elective care waiting targets
NHSE’s 2022 recovery plan ambition was to eliminate waits of longer than a year for elective care by March 2025. Within this, NHSE aimed that no one would wait longer than two years by July 2022, that there would be no waits of over 18 months by April 2023, and no waits of over 65 weeks by March...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
86match
#16 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
There are 6 million people on the waiting list for elective care.36 NHSE&I told us it intends to focus on those with the highest clinical need and priority, and especially in the immediate period, those who have waited the longest time. For long-waiters, NHSE&I stated that its plan for this year would target for treatment those who have...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
Committee recommendation
86match
#8 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
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 not be done with the additional £8 billion...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
Committee recommendation
83match
#17 - Diagnostic and surgical hubs show activity below planned levels, failing waiting list targets.
The NAO report found that while CDCs are operational and have provided an increasing proportion of diagnostic activity, NHSE analysis in June 2024 showed that it would not meet waiting list targets due to a shortfall of around 3.6 million tests.34 We questioned the Department whether for CDCs there had been a failure to track whether spending had...
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
Committee recommendation
83match
#1 - Committee gathered evidence on NHS England's elective care waiting time programmes
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Health and Social Care (the Department) and from NHS England (NHSE) regarding NHSE’s management of transformation programmes to reduce elective care waiting times.1
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
82match
#11 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
The very large numbers of people who have not presented for healthcare, or were not able to obtain it, during the pandemic, as well as those who have already been on waiting lists for long periods of time present a huge risk to primary and emergency care services. This is because unmet health demand can result in more...
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
Committee recommendation
82match
#11 - Thirty-Eighth Report - Managing NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
Macmillan Cancer Support and Healthwatch Suffolk submitted evidence to us containing powerful examples of the uncertainty, anxiety and other problems long waits cause patients. Macmillan Cancer Support told us that the impact of cancer care backlogs was being felt by people at all stages of the cancer pathway and that people were worried about a reduced chance of...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
PFD report
81match
Irene Davies
The coroner noted extended waiting times for elective surgery due to COVID-19 backlogs, which affected Mrs Davies. Concerns were also raised about ongoing ambulance availability issues in Greater Manchester, leading to delayed urgent responses.
Matched on
terms: elective, surgery, waiting
Committee recommendation
81match
#13 - Thirty-Eighth Report - Managing NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
We asked NHSE about whether, in its view, this would provide the NHS with sufficient funding, given its previous comments about the scale of the negative impact inflation had had on its budgets.26 The Chief Executive told us that it should be enough to deliver key priorities, including elective and cancer recovery. NHSE also listed the continuing risks...
Matched on
terms: elective, list, waiting
Committee recommendation
78match
#18 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
In September 2021, patients in the worst-performing of NHSE&I’s 42 geographic areas of England were more than twice as likely as patients in the best-performing areas to have been waiting over 18 weeks for elective care. Patients were also more than twice as likely to have waited more than 62 days for cancer treatment following an urgent referral...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
78match
#14 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
The Department and NHSE&I are now managing a large, growing and diverse set of challenges to elective and cancer care on top of the ongoing pandemic. We asked how the Department and NHSE&I expected the accelerated and expanded vaccine booster programme, announced on 12 December 2021, to impact on elective and cancer care. NHSE&I told us that GPs...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
GIRFT recommendation
78match
Vascular Surgery
Ensure optimum list scheduling. 6A: Trusts to organise vascular surgery around combined 'urgent' lists. 6B: Clinicians and trust management to ensure surgeons perform a minimum of three inpatient half-day lists, two outpatient sessions and a day-case list per week. 6C: GIRFT to work with Vascular Society to develop prioritisation methodology based on risk. 6D: NHSI Operational Productivity Clinical...
Matched on
terms: list, surgery
PFD report
77match
Marina Fagan
The coroner noted insufficient neurologists nationally, contributing to delays in specialist neurological input, including a lack of out-of-hours on-call neurologists at the admitting hospital and lengthy outpatient waiting times.
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
PFD report
77match
Kellum Thomas
The coroner identified a lack of robust systems for managing essential heart monitoring devices and their replacement, resulting in excessively long waiting lists. Additionally, critical outpatient letters were significantly delayed, hindering timely communication of important medical information.
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
Committee recommendation
77match
#15 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
The number of missing referrals and the size of the waiting list make for a daunting situation when it comes to the needs of patients. Thinking about the recent changes to GPs’ workload to allow them to focus on booster vaccinations, we asked how members of the public could know in advance whether a GP appointment was routine...
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
Committee recommendation
77match
#3 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
The NHS will be less able to deal with backlogs if it does not address longstanding workforce issues and ensure the existing workforce, including in urgent and emergency care and general practice, is well supported. NHSE&I believes it will be 2 or 3 years before there is a material increase in NHS capacity as a result of the...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
77match
#12 - Thirty-Eighth Report - Managing NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
The Department has allocated £14 billion to NHS England from 2022–23 to 2024–25 specifically to recover elective and cancer care, comprising £8 billion of resource funding and £5.9 billion of capital funding, as described in the November 2021 Budget and Spending Review.24 The Autumn Statement in November 2022 then, separately, committed additional funding to the overall NHS budget...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
77match
#5 - Require the Department to set out new plans for securing clinical engagement on outpatient transformation.
NHS England’s performance to date has not demonstrated that it can secure the clinical engagement that will be necessary to transform waiting lists. Clinical engagement has worked best when there been close working between national and local clinical leaders, and specific and expert support between peers. The diagnostic transformation programme and the surgical transformation programme benefitted from clinical...
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
GIRFT recommendation
77match
Neurology
Expand inpatient services to allow more non-elective admissions to be managed under neurology. Actions: a) Develop inpatient neurology services, particularly at those sites with stroke services. b) Explore options to develop inpatient neurology services at larger sites (those with >0.52% of non-elective admissions) or between linked sites. c) Where inpatient beds are not available, cohort patients with neurological...
Matched on
terms: elective, list
Committee recommendation
76match
#6 - Second Report - Delivering core NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond
We recommend that the Department of Health & Social Care and NHSE/I provide an update on what steps they have, individually and collectively, taken and are planning to take to quantify and address the overall impact of the pandemic on waiting times, the backlog of appointments and pent-up, and as yet unknown and unmet patient demand for all...
Matched on
terms: elective, surgery, waiting
LGO / SPSO decision
76match
201502592 - Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board
Ms C complained about a delay in arranging surgery for her child (Miss A), who suffered from malocclusion (a misalignment of the teeth and jaws) and chronic facial pain. A treatment plan was agreed for Miss A's malocclusion, including a period of braces followed by maxillofacial surgery (surgery affecting the mouth, jaws, face or neck). After 18 months...
Matched on
terms: list, surgery, waiting
Committee recommendation
74match
#1 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department of Health and Social Care (the Department) and NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) about the backlogs and waiting times for elective and cancer care in the NHS in England. We also received and considered written evidence from 40 organisations.1
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
74match
#10 - Thirty-Eighth Report - Managing NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
We shared our concerns about the risks facing the NHS and its ability to deliver the recovery targets and we pressed NHSE on how confident it was that it would meet the target to increase elective activity to 129% of 2019–20 levels by 2024–25.20 In some ways, this is the most important target because increasing activity is what...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
PFD report
73match
Kathleen Booth
The coroner noted a four-day delay in surgery due to NHS-wide understaffing and underfunding, with wards combining elective and emergency work. Patients injured on a Friday faced disadvantages due to limited weekend staffing and experience.
Matched on
terms: elective, surgery
PFD report
73match
Lorraine Procter
The coroner noted significant backlogs for cardiology appointments, leading to patients waiting in excess of 40 weeks for specialist input, which increases the risk of complications and death for those needing timely care.
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
PFD report
73match
Noura Hardy
The coroner raised concerns that excessively long waiting lists for heart treatment pose a national problem, as a patient's prolonged wait for treatment led to complications from long-term steroid use.
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
PFD report
73match
Carla Smith
The coroner identified significant and persistent waiting list backlogs for gynaecology referrals, which risks patients deteriorating and losing treatment options. There is no system to monitor the progress of patients on these waiting lists, potentially leaving them waiting excessively without review.
Matched on
terms: list, waiting
PFD report
73match
Thomas Oldcorn
The coroner noted that national targets for waiting times from angiography to surgery were not being met, with current waiting times exceeding the 7-day target due to inadequate resources.
Matched on
terms: surgery, waiting
Committee recommendation
73match
#2 - Forty-Fourth Report - NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
At our evidence session the Department and NHSE&I appeared unwilling to make measurable commitments about what new funding for elective recovery would achieve in terms of additional NHS capacity and reduced patient waiting times. NHSE&I will receive an additional £8 billion for elective care recovery and £5.9 billion for capital between 2022–23 and 202425. Government expects that this...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
73match
#16 - Thirty-Eighth Report - Managing NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
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...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
Committee recommendation
73match
#15 - Thirty-Eighth Report - Managing NHS backlogs and waiting times in England
NHSE’s elective recovery programme includes plans for: • GPs to handle many elective cases previously dealt with by hospital doctors. Instead of referring some patients for elective care, GPs manage them within the 24 C&AG’s Report, paras 7, 1.15; Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, para 2.11 25 Autumn Statement 2022, para 5.57, table 2.1 26 NHS England...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
GIRFT recommendation
73match
Paediatric Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
Paediatric orthopaedic surgeons to be supported by multidisciplinary team with sufficient specialist physios/nurses/plaster staff to permit local club foot and early DDH treatment and reduce waits, including management of variants of normal. a Achieve a balanced multi-professional team addressing any deficiencies identified in numbers and seniority of practitioners. b Train plaster staff in paediatric orthopaedic skills.
Matched on
terms: list, surgery
Committee recommendation
73match
#18 - Diagnostic capacity rapidly absorbed by demand, compounded by confusion over surgical hub delivery numbers.
NHSE told us that the additional diagnostic capacity it has created has been quickly taken up by growth in demand and that the NHS was also trying to control non-elective urgent demand.37 We were told however that while it was still struggling with waiting times, patient satisfaction rates are around 93% and the expansion of capacity had been...
Matched on
terms: elective, waiting
GIRFT recommendation
73match
Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine
Admit patients for elective inpatient surgery on the day of surgery. a Ensure that the appropriate preoperative assessment and preparation processes are in place to facilitate day of surgery admissions and to avoid day-of-surgery cancellations. b Use 'patient hotels' for patients travelling long distances for surgery.
Matched on
terms: elective, surgery
Committee recommendation
72match
#26 - Fourteenth Report: Readying the NHS and social care for the COVID-19 peak
Access to NHS services has reduced significantly during the COVID crisis, potentially creating huge pent-up demand, which will add to the substantial waiting lists that existed before the pandemic.77 NHSE&I told us that access to emergency and critical services, such as cancer, has been maintained throughout the crisis although use of these services had been lower than usual....
Matched on
terms: elective, list, surgery, waiting
Committee recommendation
72match
#25 - Ninth report - Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic
We recommend that NHS England, together with ICBs and the new Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), work together to deliver regional and national coordination as the system tackles the backlog in elective care. If the independent sector is to prove an effective partner in tackling that backlog, the Government must ensure that plans take into account...
Matched on
terms: disparitie, elective, list, waiting
LGO / SPSO decision
72match
PSOW-202201496 - Swansea Bay University Health Board
Mr D complained that he had waited a long time for orthopaedic surgery and that his understanding of how he would be treated was not managed well regarding the pre-operative assessments. The waiting time for orthopaedic surgery at the Health Board is more than 4 years. The Health Board had issues including not enough staff, not enough suitable...
Matched on
terms: list, surgery, waiting
LGO / SPSO decision
72match
PSOW-202200425 - Swansea Bay University Health Board
Mrs C complained on behalf of her husband Mr C, that he had waited a long time for orthopaedic surgery and that their understanding of how he would be treated was not managed well regarding the pre-operative assessments. The waiting time for orthopaedic surgery at the Health Board is more than 4 years. The Health Board had issues...
Matched on
terms: list, surgery, waiting
LGO / SPSO decision
72match
PSOW-202200361 - Swansea Bay University Health Board
Mrs B said that she had waited a long time for orthopaedic surgery and that her understanding of how she would be treated was not managed well regarding the pre-operative assessments. The waiting time for orthopaedic surgery at the Health Board is more than 4 years. The Health Board had issues including not enough staff, not enough suitable...
Matched on
terms: list, surgery, waiting