NHS care backlog push at serious risk - National Audit Office

The program to tackle agelong waits successful infirmary attraction and crab attraction successful England by 2025 is astatine superior risk, the spending watchdog says.

The National Audit Office study warned ostentation and different pressures connected the NHS could undermine the push.

These included a deficiency of unit and infirmary beds, which was affecting productivity, the watchdog said.

But NHS bosses said they could flooded the challenges and the wellness work was connected way to deed its targets.

NHS England and the authorities person acceptable a bid of targets implicit the adjacent 3 years.

The NAO study comes arsenic the chancellor prepares to acceptable retired his taxation and spending plans successful his Autumn Statement connected Thursday.

Its fund was already owed to turn by astir £5bn adjacent year.

But NHS England has warned that inactive leaves a £7bn shortfall, due to the fact that of inflationary pressures.

The NAO said ostentation had chipped distant astatine however acold the wealth acceptable speech for backlogs would go.

Its study noted the NHS was inactive doing less planned treatments, specified arsenic genu and hep replacements, than earlier the pandemic.

The extremity is to summation them by astir a third.

The instauration of a web of assemblage surgical and diagnostic hubs to trial and dainty much patients had had little interaction than expected, it said, owed to:

Continued precocious rates of sickness were besides a problem.

A deficiency of enactment successful the assemblage meant astir patients acceptable to beryllium discharged could not be, limiting the fig of treatments possible.

The fig of afloat qualified GPs was falling and determination was constricted grounds the program for them to supply enactment and proposal successful the assemblage alternatively than referring patients connected to specialists successful infirmary would work.

NAO caput Gareth Davies said the NHS needed much enactment and to beryllium challenged successful areas wherever it was making insufficient progress.

"There are important risks to the transportation of the program to trim agelong waits for elective and crab attraction services by 2025," helium added.

A NHS England spokesperson said the wellness work was facing challenges but remained "on track" to present connected its goals.