NHS will have to work harder than ever to clear momentous care backlog

Responding to the National Audit Office report NHS backlogs and waiting times in England, Nuffield Trust Director of Research John Appleby said:

“Today’s report from the NAO is right to warn that the growing backlog of care will, unfortunately, get worse before patients start to see improvement. This warning is even starker in the face of continuing uncertainty about the progress of the pandemic and the seasonal pressures on the NHS over the next few months.

“The truth is that the waiting list for routine surgery and treatment was growing well before the pandemic: 4.5 million patients were waiting before March 2020 and waiting times targets have been consistently missed for some years. Underinvestment in NHS equipment and facilities and the lack of long-term planning on staffing and training meant the UK’s health service went into this crisis with fewer beds and staff than many other international systems. It is these constraints going in that will slow the NHS’s path to recovery.

“As the NAO point out, recovering the backlog of patients who missed treatment while also coping with rising demand will mean the NHS will have to work harder than ever. The key constraint will be staffing.   

“The government will need to be realistic about the time it will take to recover to pre-pandemic levels, let alone once again meeting their own waiting time targets. There will be difficult trade-offs ahead for staff over recovery in the short-term against the long-term effects of this momentous task on the existing workforce.”