Patients’ guide to the elective care reform plan

The NHS has a duty to provide everyone with timely, high-quality care. We know we need to continue to make progress on the things that matter most to you: getting you the right treatment at the right time in a way that suits you and your life to improve your overall experience of healthcare. We’ve developed a new plan to deliver these changes.

Elective care covers a broad range of planned, non-emergency services – from tests and scans to outpatient appointments, non-urgent surgery and cancer treatment.

By 2029, our aim is for more than 9 in 10 patients [92%] to begin non-urgent treatment within 18 weeks. We will also improve performance against the cancer waiting time standards.

Under our new plan, we will focus on making the NHS more personalised, digital and easier to access. You will have the information and tools you need to make decisions about your own care with your healthcare professional, including where and when you’ll be treated.

The plan will deliver change in 3 key areas:

Cutting waiting times

The NHS will create more capacity, improve efficiency and build stronger partnerships with the independent sector to ensure more people receive a timely diagnosis and treatment.

Providing convenient access to care for patients

More services and care will be available in communities closer to people’s homes. We’ll also make it easier to book appointments and communicate via the NHS App and enable you to get direct referrals for tests and scans without having lots of appointments first.

Improving patients’ experience of the NHS

You’ll be able to make informed, meaningful choices about how and where you receive your treatment. We’ll also improve communication with you while you’re waiting for care to keep you updated on how long you may have to wait, what the next steps are, and to help you prepare if you need an operation.

To achieve this by 2029, we are focusing on delivering the 18-week elective care standard by:

  • empowering patients by giving you more choice and control and making your experience of your planned NHS care as smooth, supportive and easy as possible
  • reforming how care is delivered by working differently and more productively to deliver more elective care
  • delivering care in the right place to make sure you receive your care from skilled healthcare professionals in the right setting

If you’d like to find out more about our plans to improve elective care in the NHS, visit our website.

Publication reference: PRN01788