Nearly half of health boards in England are deliberately delaying care for patients by imposing minimum waiting times, The BMJ can reveal.
A total of 17 of the 36 integrated care boards (ICBs) have introduced minimum waits of between 12 and 16 weeks for procedures including hip, knee, and cataract surgery, freedom of information requests show.
The Royal College of Surgeons said it was “concerned by the scale” of measures that can prolong patients’ pain, while the Royal College of General Practitioners said the thresholds were “difficult to justify.”
The minimum waits are being used by local ICBs as a rationing tool to slow down the rate of procedures and control costs.
But experts pointed out that imposing blanket 16 week waits, in particular, meant that patients were likely to breach the 18 week target.
Reacting to the data, the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s president, Tim Lane, said, “We are concerned by the scale of this and, particularly, by the variation in approaches between ICBs.
“Patients should be able to expect that access to treatment is determined by their clinical need, not by where they live.
“We recognise the significant financial and capacity pressures facing the NHS, but minimum waits risk meaning that patients who are clinically ready for treatment are deliberately made to wait.
He added, “For patients, this can mean living with pain, living with reduced mobility, experiencing anxiety for longer, as well as being unable to work or carry out normal activities.
“There is also a risk that a patient’s condition may deteriorate while they are waiting, potentially changing their clinical needs and priority for treatment.”
Source: BMJ, 9 September 2026
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