NHS bosses are said to be privately concerned about Keir Starmer’s ambitious targets to cut waiting lists for routine operations, set to be announced later this week, which will also include specific targets on living standards and housebuilding.
The prime minister is expected on Thursday to set a target for 92% of routine operations and appointments in England to be carried out within 18 weeks by March 2029 – a goal that has not been achieved in almost a decade – the Times has reported.
At Rachel Reeves’s October budget, the chancellor promised an extra £22bn for the NHS over the next two years to help cut waiting times. A source at the Department of Health and Social Care denied any specific concerns had been raised yet by NHS England leadership over the planned targets.
No 10 insiders have said the new numerical targets, although risky, were a necessary recognition that Starmer’s “missions” which he set out in the run-up to the election were too conceptual for most people.
The prime minister will cease rhetoric about achieving the highest growth in the G7 in favour of specific promises on a pledge to increase real disposable income. He will also recommit to a plan to build 1.5m affordable homes and to measurably improve school-readiness for nursery children.
The Times reported that the NHS pledges were concerning health bosses who had suggested to the department that it would mean cuts in other areas including A&E, community care and mental health services.
Most NHS trust bosses doubt the health service can restore key waiting times by 2029. A recent survey by the hospitals body NHS Providers found that 71% of the leaders overall, and 100% of those who run acute and ambulance trusts, thought it unlikely that they could make such progress that quickly.
The Society for Acute Medicine (SAM), which represents hospital doctors, said Starmer’s desire for a return to 92% of patients waiting a maximum of 18 weeks, four months before the end of this parliament, was “doomed” unless overstretched NHS urgent and emergency care services, such as A&E and ambulance services, were dramatically improved.
“Any [18-week] plan that fails to do this is doomed, further increasing the misery of patients waiting prolonged periods for elective procedures and those experiencing appalling overcrowded conditions in emergency care,” said Dr Tim Cooksley, the SAM’s immediate past president.
Simon Stevens, a former head of NHS England, told the House of Lords last week that mental health services were at particular risk: “At a time when, understandably, there will be great political focus on waiting times for physical health and routine operations, the most likely outcome, absent that mental health investment standard, would be that mental health services would get screwed at a time when other things are prioritised.”
The Times reported that health bosses had specific concerns about the mental health investment standard – the NHS promise to increase spending on mental health by at least as much as the overall budget is rising – which now may not be met.
In Labour’s pre-election pledges, the party said it would recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff in its first term and reduce waiting times for people requiring healthcare.
The Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden denied Starmer’s speech on Thursday was a reset after a rocky start for Labour in government.
“What we’re doing this week is setting out a plan for change over the next few years to tell the public what the key priorities are in these areas, but also to galvanise the government system because the truth is you need to drive the system if you’re going to deliver for the people,” he told Sky News.
“We’re announcing what we want to do to get children ready for school, to get NHS waiting lists down, to get more people the chance to have a home of their own.”
