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.
