Streeting on NHS waiting lists: 'You’ll begin to see improvement again in the coming months'

Evening Standard

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Health Secretary Wes Streeting defends the government’s record on the NHS after waiting lists increased in the last few months, saying improvements should be visible 'in the coming months'.The Health Secretary insisted there were “green shoots” of recovery in the NHS since Labour took office and warned the financial cost of strike action and the impact on increased waiting lists could hit that progress.

Transcript

00:00In your department, waiting lists in England have gone up three months in a row.

00:04That's not what you promised people, is it?

00:06Well, progress has stalled in the last few months for a couple of reasons.

00:09Firstly, we had industrial action by resident doctors.

00:12That had an impact and set us back, as I feared it would and said it would at the time.

00:17We've also seen demand outstripping growth in activity.

00:22I say that not by way of excuse, by the way, but explanation.

00:24We've got to make sure that we outstrip demand.

00:28I think you'll begin to see improvement again on waiting lists in the coming months.

00:32So by when will they start to come down?

00:34Because they have been going up.

00:35By the end of this parliament and on current trajectories, by the end of this parliament,

00:39we can still achieve our goal of cutting waiting times from 18 months, which we inherited,

00:44to 18 weeks, which is where they should always have been.

00:46Notwithstanding the challenges of the last few months, this is the first time in years

00:51that waiting lists have fallen in England.

00:53Wales, they are also falling too.

00:56The SNP in Scotland have got some questions to answer about how their waiting lists have

01:00gone up despite the investment.

01:00And we'll do that when they speak to them, but let's look at a different measure.

01:03But we are moving in the right direction.

01:04Let's go.

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