Nuffield Trust responds to Labour party's plans to tackle the elective backlog

Commenting on the Labour Party’s plans to tackle the elective backlog, Sarah Scobie, Acting Director of Research at the Nuffield Trust said: 

“The waiting list for planned care has been growing relentlessly and now stands at just shy of 7.7 million people. This is unacceptably long and is the consequence of the NHS running over capacity for many years prior to the pandemic, which has hampered its recovery after the shock of Covid-19.

“So it’s right to target policies at doing everything possible to get the waiting list down. And with the NHS struggling to cover its costs right now, it is good to see that these proposals are funded from new money.

“But with waiting lists having spiralled so far, there are no quick fixes.  Spreading existing staff across more days is not going to address the reality that many staff are overstretched, burnt out and, as we recently showed, increasingly quitting the NHS. Industrial action shows the depth of the crisis in trust between the NHS and its workers. Truly addressing this will take more than some extra funds for weekend work, however welcome.

“We need more detail on how it will be possible to run planned care at 100% of its usual rates seven days a week, given that other NHS and council services will remain less available. Waits for hospital care are not the only part of the NHS in a parlous state which concerns the public. We need to hear more about Labour’s plans for general practice, community and children’s and adult’s mental health services.”