Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many incomplete pathways have been removed as a result of data validation in each month since July 2024.

No estimate has been made of the return on investment on the validation sprint.

Waiting list validation is a well-established component for effective management of waiting lists, with detailed guidance available for Trusts, including safeguards to ensure patients are not incorrectly removed from waiting lists.

The Department publishes the Referral to Treatment Rules Suite and NHS England has published two key guidance documents to support the recording and reporting patient pathways, including a set of FAQs. NHS England published an updated version of the guidance documents in February 2025. The guidance states there “must be agreement from a clinician before any patient is returned to the referrer.” Any patient removed should receive a letter that would also be sent to their GP.

Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 set the requirement for trusts to validate patients on a referral to treatment (RTT) waiting list after 12 weeks and then every 12 weeks in line with good practice and published guidance, maximising the use of digital tools for both patient contact and data quality.

Effective waiting list validation ensures trusts have an accurate understanding of the true size of their waiting list, which in turn helps them to reduce missed or cancelled appointments, make the most effective use of clinicians’ time and reduce overall waiting times.

The Department does not hold data centrally on the number of incomplete pathways removed as a result of data validation on a monthly basis. As part of the validation sprint over the period from week ending 13 April 2025 to week ending 22 June 2025, waiting list management information across all acute providers estimates there were around 250,000 additional removals from waiting lists compared to the same period last year.

Routinely validated, accurate waiting lists are a necessary part of delivering on our commitment to return to the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, and to help to improve experience for patients, so that clinical time can be focused on the patients who need it.