Sajid Javid has unveiled new targets to slash the Covid backlog - with year-long waits for NHS treatment set to continue until 2025.
The Health Secretary laid bare "considerable backlog" in elective care and said an estimated 10 million people stayed away from the NHS in England during the pandemic.
Waiting lists won't begin to fall until March 2024 if just half of those patients seek treatment over the next three years, Mr Javid told MPs.
There are currently 6 million people on waiting lists for treatments such as hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and tests. This compares to 4.4 million before the pandemic.
More people are waiting longer to get treatment., with 300,000 people have spent more than a year on a waiting list, compared to only 1,600 before Covid hit.
The delayed elective care plan, which was tied up in a wrangle at the top of Government, sets out new targets to reduce long waits.
Mr Javid pledged the overall waiting list will start falling by March 2024, adding that waits of a year or more should be ended by March 2025.
The backlog plan also includes a target to end two-year waits by July this year.
Some 95% of patients needing a diagnostic test will receive it within six weeks by March 2025 - however this target already exists but is not being met.
The Health Secretary said: “Sadly as a result of focusing on urgent care, the NHS couldn’t deal with non urgent care as much as anyone would have liked."
He added: “We will also put in place a payment system that incentivises strong performance and delivers value for money for the public.
“This vital document shows how we will recover, but not just recover, but also reform, and make sure that the NHS is there for all of us, no matter what lies ahead.”
Mr Javid said community diagnostics hubs to get tests and checks in venues such as supermarket car parks will increase from 69 to 100.
He said the Government would pour more money in to private hospitals to treat NHS patients.
The long-delayed plans had been due to be published in December but were put on hold initially because of the Omicron outbreak.
However the delay continued after the Treasury insisted on strict targets for the NHS as a condition of pandemic recovery cash.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said "falls seriously short of the scale of the challenge facing the NHS and the misery that is affecting millions of people" stuck on waiting lists.
He said: "There’s no plan to tackle the workforce crisis, no plan to deal with delayed discharges and no hope of eliminating waits of more than a year.”
A then-record 4.5 million patients were on the NHS waiting list in England before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Streeting added: “After a decade of Tory mismanagement the NHS had record waiting lists before the pandemic, staff shortages of 100,000 before the pandemic, 17,000 fewer beds before the pandemic and 112,000 vacancies in social care before the pandemic.
“It’s not just they didn’t fix the roof while the sun was shining. They dismantled the roof and removed the floorboards.”
Other waiting targets included ending 18 month waits by April 2023 and 15 month waits by March 2024.
NHS England said teams of specialists will be deployed to help patients prepare for their operations, reducing the amount of time they need to spend as hospital inpatients.
Community diagnostics hubs, to get tests and checks in venues such as supermarket car park, sports stadiums and business parks, will increase from 69 to 100.
NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “As we move out of the Omicron wave the NHS is applying the same determination and ‘can do’ spirit we have displayed throughout the pandemic, to address backlogs in routine care that have inevitably built up, and reduce long waits.
“That cannot happen overnight but we are determined to make the best possible use of the additional investment and take the best from our pandemic response, including smarter use of digital care and flexible working between teams and trusts, while building this additional diagnostic capacity that will help to accelerate progress.
“As we have always said throughout the pandemic, it is vitally important that anybody who has health needs continues to come forward, so that staff can help you with the best options for your care.”
Richard Murray, chief executive of the respected King’s Fund thinktank, said: “This is a welcome plan, but the NHS will need more staff to make it a reality.”
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “There’s nothing new to see here.
“Without fresh ideas to deal with the growing NHS staffing crisis or the broken care system, services won’t be there for those needing help.”
