Sir Keir Starmer has hailed a “milestone” in his plan to fix the NHS as figures show an extra two million appointments were delivered during Labour’s first five months in office.
New figures published by NHS England reveal that between July and November 2024, the health service delivered almost 2.2 million more elective care appointments compared with the same period the previous year.
This includes for chemotherapy, radiotherapy, endoscopy, and diagnostic tests, which were possible in part because of staff working extra weekend and evening shifts, the government said.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) also pointed to the end of NHS strikes, extra flu vaccinations and £1.8bn of funding into elective appointments since Labour took office.
The extra appointments come on top of figures last week showing total NHS waiting lists fell in December for the fourth month in a row – though challenges remain in other areas.
The prime minister said: “Two million extra NHS appointments and a waiting list on its way down – we’re delivering on our promise to fix the NHS and make sure people get the care they need, when they need it.
“We said we’d turn this around and that’s exactly what we’re doing – this milestone is a shot in the arm for our plan to get the NHS back on its feet and cut waiting times.”
During the general election campaign, polls suggested the NHS was the second most important issue to voters after the economy.
The extra appointments mean Labour’s manifesto commitment for two million a year was met seven months early.
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Labour have also pledged to end hospital backlogs to meet the NHS standard of 92% of patients in England waiting no longer than 18 weeks for elective treatment.
The figures last week showed the number of people waiting 18 weeks or more for elective care has started to fall.
The number who have been on the list for more than a year is also down.
Overall, an estimated 7.46 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of December in England, down from 7.48 million treatments at the end of November.
However, pressure remains in other areas. Sky News found the number of patients waiting for 12 hours in A&E after a decision has been made to admit them – known as a “trolley-wait” – rose above 60,000 for the first time in January.
Waits of this length, usually indicative of a lack of available beds in the hospital, were almost non-existent before the pandemic.
The January total – equivalent to more than 15% of all patients admitted via A&E – is more than the total recorded in over 11 years from August 2010 to October 2021.
As Sky News’ health correspondent Ashish Joshi reports that health anxiety – not emergencies – is clogging up A&E.
There are also problems facing social care, with a lack of availability often preventing medically fit people from being discharged.
Sir Keir acknowledged there was more to do, saying “we’re not complacent and we know the job isn’t done”.
The PM and Wes Streeting visit a hospital in Surrey. Pic: Reuters
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the next steps on the Plan for Change include “opening new surgical hubs, community diagnostics centres at evenings and weekends, and using private sector capacity to cut waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks”.
He added: “We have wasted no time in getting to work to cut NHS waiting times and end the agony of millions of patients suffering uncertainty and pain.
“Because we ended the strikes, invested in the NHS, and rolled out reformed ways of working, we are finally putting the NHS on the road to recovery.”
The government has also announced a £40m funding pot for trusts that make the most improvements, which will be available for hospitals from next year to spend on capital projects such repairs to their estates or new tech such as AI scanners.
Sir Keir has previously promised more funding for trusts who make the fastest improvements in cutting waiting times but it was not clear how much.
More detail on how the funds will be allocated will be set out “in due course”, the government said.