Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is that shifting care into community settings will reduce waiting times and improve patient outcomes.

Shifting care into community settings is at the heart of the Government’s efforts to modernise and improve productivity in the National Health Service. Our vision is for a new model of planned care that is local where possible. This shift will provide rapid access to patient-centred services.

The Elective Reform Plan sets out our plan to deliver care in the right place, so patients are able to access the right care more quickly. This includes, for example, expanding the use of Advice and Guidance (A&G), which helps general practitioners and hospital specialists to work together to make the best treatment plans for patients, and decide whether a hospital referral is truly needed.

Where the outcome of A&G is for care management in the community, we expect patients to be seen more quickly, closer to home, benefiting from earlier specialist input. Ensuring patients receive the right care the first time can reduce the waiting list, so that people who need hospital care can receive it in a timely manner.

The plan is working. The waiting list has decreased to 7.22 million in February 2026, a drop of over 405,000 since July 2024. 18-week performance has improved by over 3% from the start of July 2024. The number of waits over 18 weeks has decreased to 2.7 million in February 2026, the lowest it’s been since July 2022.