Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of whether the NHS will meet its core statutory access targets within the next three years.

NHS England’s ‘Operational and Planning Guidance for 2019/20’ sets out deliverables against key performance areas and the Government expects the National Health Service to deliver these actions set – in full – as key steps towards fully recovering performance against core access standards.

NHS England is also carrying out a clinical review of standards, which is due to report in the spring. This review will help to ensure that the NHS is focused on the right targets - for both physical and mental health - which incentivise the best care and outcomes for patients, and have the broad support of our health professionals.

The Long Term Plan, launched by the NHS on 7 January 2018, will transform patient care and make sure every penny of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely. This is supported by the Government’s investment of £20.5 billion a year in real terms by 2023/24. The additional funding will allow the NHS to get back on the path to delivering core performance standards.

In spring, the NHS will publish an implementation framework for the Long Term Plan which will enable local systems to translate the Long Term Plan commitments into deliverable strategic plans. This will be followed by a final implementation and workforce plan in late 2019.

The Department will monitor delivery against the plan and hold the NHS to account