By Plan to tackle England’s NHS backlog delayed
Plans to tackle the NHS backlog caused by England’s battle with Covid-19 have been pushed back.
Details of how and when NHS England planned to deal with the ever-growing patient waiting lists were expected to be published today.
This is no longer the case, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid blaming Omicron for the delay.
When asked when the document would be published, he simply said we could expect it “soon”.
In the meantime, the government has launched a new online service that will allow people needing non-urgent surgery to get information about waiting times.
Routine surgery was halted on numerous occasions during certain periods of the pandemic.
As a result, around six million patients are currently on NHS waiting lists for non-urgent operations and procedures in England.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, called the delays “frustrating”.
He said the plan had been agreed with NHS leaders who just “want to get on with the work”.
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