The incoming Director of Policy at The Kings Fund, Siva Anandaciva, published a new long read on NHS performance standards.
He details how challenges such as staff shortages, limited funding, rising demand, and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increasing waiting lists for NHS services.
The Labour government has committed to tackling long waiting times, particularly for elective hospital care. With the Health and Social Care Secretary, Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP, outlining a goal to meet all NHS ‘constitutional’ performance standards across various services during this parliamentary term.
However, Silva highlights the challenges for these targets, including:
- Many targets remain unmet for almost a decade.
- Meeting all targets would have significant opportunity costs
- Existing targets may not reflect modern healthcare needs or priorities
- Focusing solely on existing targets could neglect important services not currently measured
- A target-focused approach might prevent investment in preventive services and system transformation.
Calls to Action:
- Conduct a comprehensively review NHS waiting time targets.
- Reassess the feasibility and desirability of meeting all current targets.
- Develop targets that align with the government’s three key shifts for the healthcare system:
- Becoming more preventive.
- Becoming more community-based.
- Becoming more digitally enabled.
- Consider the opportunity costs of meeting existing targets.
- Be willing to modify or adjust target commitments to support broader healthcare system reforms.
Read the article in full here.
