NHSE ‘forgot the people’ when it ‘rushed’ controversial appointment rules, Mackey admits

NHS England “forgot the people” when it published controversial guidelines last month which said patients faced being removed from the waiting list if they declined two appointment dates, a senior director has admitted.

NHSE elective recovery chief Sir Jim Mackey said the guidance was drafted to address legitimate concerns from trusts, but that the process had been “rushed”.

Following Sir Jim’s comments, NHSE told HSJ the guidance, which had sparked widespead criticism including from patient groups, would not be changing. But Sir Jim said NHSE would “spend time” better understanding patients after “reflecting” on the process which had created the controversial guidelines.

Speaking at the King’s Fund annual conference, Sir Jim said: “[The guidance] was largely a response to trusts saying to us: ‘We keep offering these patients options and they won’t take them, so what do we do?’

“We rushed through a policy to try and deal with that, and in the process, I think forgot the people…We’ve reflected on that.”

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Source: HSJ, 1 November 2022