Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with ICBs on minimum waiting times for NHS services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been no discussions on minimum waiting times between my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and the integrated care boards (ICBs).
ICBs plan activity to meet targets set in the planning guidance. This is an important step toward returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. Planning guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.
Asked by: David Baines (Labour - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) increase capacity on children's heart units and (b) ensure that children requiring treatment receive it in a timely manner.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need, including children awaiting specialist cardiac input.
As set out in the Plan for Change, we will return to the National Health Service’s constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. This includes for children awaiting elective care at children’s heart units.
Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts that will get us back to this standard. Through empowering patients; reforming delivery; and aligning funding, performance oversight, and delivery standards; we will ensure that all patients, including children with heart conditions, are seen as quickly as possible, in line with the RTT standard.