Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made cost to the public purse of meeting the 18 week referral to treatment target in the next 12 months; and what the effect of meeting that target will be on other areas of expenditure and the NHS deficit.

NHS England has set out their approach to meeting and improving patient access standards in the ‘Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View’¹ and has produced an annex ‘NHS England Funding and Resource 2017-19: supporting Next Steps for the NHS Five Year Forward View’² to explain its funding distribution.

The health service continues to face high demand on services caused by the United Kingdom’s ageing population and rapidly advancing technology. That is why the National Health Service will receive £2.8 billion of additional resource funding in England by 2018/19 to help it get back on track and meet performance standards on waiting times including the 18 week referral to treatment target.

Notes:

¹https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/next-steps-on-the-nhs-five-year-forward-view/

²https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-england-funding-and-resource-2017-19/