Outgoing health secretary declares Labour’s ‘plan for the NHS is working’ as hospitals hit key target
Hospitals in England have hit a key target for improving the time it takes patients to get treatment, which prompted Wes Streeting to declare that Labour’s “plan for the NHS is working” before departing as health secretary.
Streeting had told the NHS to ensure that hospitals treated at least 65% of patients within 18 weeks by the end of March. New NHS England figures published on Thursday showed that hospitals did so, treating 65.3% of people on the NHS waiting list within that timeframe in March.
The referral to treatment (RTT) target is a particularly important waiting time standard for the NHS to meet because it is the one that Labour has repeatedly pledged to restore to what it should be – 92% of patients being seen within 18 weeks – by 2029.
The NHS’s success will help Streeting burnish his record during his 22 months as the health secretary. He has stated that under his leadership “the NHS is on the road to recovery” after years of under-investment and neglect during the Conservatives’ 14 years in power.
