To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, over what time period targets will be met for (a) a four hour maximum wait at accident and emergency, (b) a maximum 18 week wait for non-urgent consultant-led treatments and planned operations, (c) cancer care within 62 days of referral, (d) mental health therapy within six weeks and (e) other statutory access standards in (i) Brighton and Hove and (ii) England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered on
28 January 2019
The Government’s Mandate to NHS England for 2018-19 is that NHS England should meet agreed core standards, including accident and emergency, referral to treatment and cancer waiting times. A further Mandate deliverable is to embed access and waiting time standards for mental health services for Early Intervention in Psychosis, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies and eating disorders.
The Mandate is available at the following link:
NHS England’s ‘Operational and Planning Guidance for 2019/20’ sets out deliverables against key performance areas and the Government expects the National Health Service to deliver these actions set – in full – as key steps toward fully recovering performance against core access standards.
It is for NHS commissioners and providers locally to work together to manage demand and plan sufficient capacity to achieve and maintain statutory access standards.