The government has hit an interim target for speeding up hospital treatment in England.<\/p>\n
The goal was for 65% of patients to be treated within 18 weeks by March 2026 \u2013 and it hit that, but only just, with the figure reaching 65.3%.<\/p>\n
It was seen as the first stepping stone to hitting the 92% target by the end of the Parliament in 2029 \u2013 a key manifesto pledge of Labour’s.<\/p>\n
The news comes amid mounting speculation Health Secretary Wes Streeting is to launch a leadership challenge to become the next prime minister.<\/p>\n
Streeting hailed the achievement \u2013 performance was below 59% when Labour came to power.<\/p>\n
He said: \u00ab\u00a0It means we are right on track to deliver the fastest reduction in waiting times in the history of the NHS.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0That is thanks to the government’s investment, modernisation, and the remarkable efforts of staff right across the country.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Lots done, lots more to do.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The overall waiting list also improved, falling from 7.2 million to 7.1 million in the space of a month – the lowest for three and a half years.<\/p>\n
NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey described it as a \u00ab\u00a0huge moment\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Today’s achievement goes beyond a set of remarkable statistics \u2013 it shows that we’re making real inroads on the things that matter to our patients and communities.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
He said the progress was \u00ab\u00a0all the more extraordinary\u00a0\u00bb given the NHS has had to cope with repeated strike action by resident doctors.<\/p>\n
But experts warned there was still a long way to go before the target of 92% was hit \u2013 something that has not been done for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
Tim Mitchell, of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said while staff were working flat out, their efforts were being undermined by long-standing under-investment in buildings and equipment.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Too many teams are still working in ageing buildings with too few theatres and beds. Without addressing these constraints, progress for patients already waiting will remain fragile.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government has hit an interim target for speeding up hospital treatment in England. The goal was for 65% of patients to be treated within 18 weeks by March 2026 \u2013 and it hit that, but only just, with the figure reaching 65.3%. It was seen as the first stepping stone to hitting the 92% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}