NHS England considers ‘mandated’ system-level waiting lists

NHS trusts could be asked to create shared waiting lists for elective care under plans being considered by national leaders.

HSJ understands that NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens is to write to all NHS organisations early next month to lay out plans for phase three of the recovery from covid. The letter is expected to focus on the importance of working at a system level to get more services up and running.

Senior NHS sources said the recovery plans are likely to include proposals for creating pooled system-level waiting lists between trusts, but there is still internal debate over the extent to which changes could effectively be mandated; for example, by attaching significant incentive funds. The move appears to be aimed at ensuring an “equitable level of care” across a patch.

In a statement, NHSE said individual providers’ would ultimately still have responsibility and accountability for their waiting lists, even where this might be “supplemented” by system-wide arrangements.

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Source: HSJ, 19 June 2020