NHS to go ‘back to basics' under plans to cut half of targets

Telegraph

29-01-2025

The Health Secretary will publish his first mandate to the NHS on Thursday, which sets out a much slimmed-down set of demands from the current 32 targets.
Cutting
Mr Streeting believes that a sharper focus is needed on key pledges – in particular waiting lists, which now stand at almost 7.5 million – to restore confidence in the NHS.
He will also give health officials the most ambitious efficiency targets yet, ordering the NHS to 'live within its means' to give taxpayers more value for money.
However, the direction has fuelled growing concerns over areas which could be sidelined, with a pledge to roll out
Last night,
Mr Streeting told The Telegraph: 'We are telling the NHS to go back to basics and focus on the fundamentals. It needs to deliver on patients' priorities – shorter waiting times, being able to get a GP appointment and ambulances that arrive on time.
'Our reforms will squeeze better value out of every penny going into the NHS, so it delivers a better service for patients. And through our Plan for Change, we will get the health service back on its feet and fit for patients long into the future.'
The plan, which follows a £26 billion boost for the health service from
Officials will be set the most ambitious targets yet to boost productivity and efficiency, following warnings that the health service racked up deficits of £2 billion in the first few months of this financial year.
On Wednesday,
Officials had already been accused of the '
The plan will promise a war on waste, with spending on agency staff cut by one third and a ban on staff coming back as agency workers soon after they quit.
It will also promise to slim down central bureaucracy, with the elimination of any duplication of functions at NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care.
Officials say that far more autonomy will be given to local decision-makers.
A government source said: 'For too long we have had all these targets, but almost none of them being met and that isn't delivering improvements for patients. Targets are not always the best way to deliver care.'
Fears for dementia diagnoses
But charities fear a target to boost the
The 'Dementia Challenge,' set by Lord Cameron in 2013, pledged that two thirds of people should receive a diagnosis and support, and has since been an NHS central target.
But it has not been met since February 2020, with latest figures showing a deterioration in performance.
Last year, a national audit found the average wait for a diagnosis from referral reached 22 weeks in 2023 – up from 13 weeks in 2019 – with some patients waiting almost a year.
The current planning guidance for the NHS pledges to 'improve quality of life, effectiveness of treatment, and care for people with dementia by increasing the dementia diagnosis rate to 66.7 per cent by March 2025'.
Latest data show that as of December, 65.6 per cent of people aged 65 or over who are estimated to have dementia had a recorded diagnosis, down from 65.8 per cent the month before.
Fiona Carragher, the director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said the removal of the target would be a 'glaring omission' which would send the message that dementia 'doesn't matter'.
David Thomas, the head of policy and public affairs at Alzheimer's Research UK, said scrapping the target would be a 'significant step backwards', especially given the pipeline of breakthrough drugs that may be able to help those with a diagnosis.
One in four covered by private health scheme
It comes after the women's health ambassador criticised moves to drop a pledge to roll out
On Wednesday, Ms Pritchard insisted that women's health was a 'priority' for the health service but said that the health service had been '
Meanwhile, Mencap warned of 'deadly consequences' if annual health checks of those with learning disabilities were deprioritised.
It comes as figures show a record 16.4 million people in the UK – one in four of the population – are now covered by some kind of private health scheme, up from 13.5 million before the pandemic.
The analysis by market analysts Laing Buisson found long waiting times were fuelling the trend, and said they expected the private sector to continue booming for several years more, despite government pledges to cut NHS backlogs.
Tim Read, the director of research, said: 'NHS waiting times continue to be challenging and acting as a push towards alternative cover options, and public satisfaction has been cratering for several years.'
He said the market saw little indication that anything would stop a boom in the private sector continuing for two to three years.
Overall, the total
Julian Kelly, the deputy chief executive and chief financial officer for NHS England, said: 'Covid inevitably hit NHS productivity hard, and while it is now improving at double pre-pandemic rates we must go further and faster for patients and taxpayers.
'From expanding the use of