Starmer pledges to end long waits for treatment on NHS

Prime minister to set out plan to tackle backlogs in hospitals

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

Sir Keir Starmer will today promise millions of extra NHS appointments in a bid to slash waiting times for treatment to 18 weeks by the next general election.

With pressure growing on the prime minister to deliver on his general election promises, he will set out a so-called “elective reform plan” aimed at taking millions of patients off waiting lists and tackling backlogs in hospitals.

But the British Medical Association (BMA) warned that “more is needed than relying on the goodwill of exhausted staff or new technology” to cut into the existing 7.5 million waiting list backlog.

BMA chair Professor Phil Banfield said: “Doctors have been just as frustrated as their patients by the lack of facilities to deliver care and want to bring waiting lists down, but the reality is that without the workforce to meet constantly rising demand, we will not see the progress we all hope for.”

Delivering a major speech, Sir Keir will set out how ballooning NHS backlogs have “left millions of patients languishing on waiting lists, often in pain or fear”. Ahead of the speech, he said: “This elective reform plan will deliver on our promise to end the backlogs. Millions more appointments.”