Recovery of Elective Activity

Additional elective operations, appointments and tests

This section contains data relating to the 2024 Labour manifesto commitment to deliver “an extra two million NHS operations, scans and appointments”. As this commitment was presented as a means to “cut NHS waiting times” the scope of these data is limited to elective services consistent with consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times.

Information covering the period from Jul-24 to Dec-24 was released on 13th March 2025 as official statistics. This includes updated data for the baseline period and from Jul-24 onward.

Data
Additional elective appointments Jan-25
Additional elective appointments Dec-24

An initial publication of the data was released on 13th February 2025 as management information covering the period from Jul-24 to Nov-24.

Management Information Data
Additional elective appointments Nov-24

Completed pathway and value weighted activity recovery

A key objective for 2023/24 was to recover elective activity levels to above those seen in the pre-COVID period, to address the growing elective care waiting list. The NHS England priorities and planning guidance sets out the requirement to recover elective services. This section contains key management information related to the recovery of elective activity, including the effect of activity diverted from secondary care by specialist advice.

Completed pathways are the total elective care pathways which are marked as completed in each month. Recovery percentages are adjusted to account for differences in working days

Value weighted activity is the combined value of all applicable elective activity completed in each month. Recovery percentages are adjusted to account for differences in working days. Further information about the types of activity included in the calculation is provided in the publication.

Referrals for specialist advice and guidance which result in a patient being diverted away from a referral to secondary care are included in the measurement of recovery. Data presented here are shown with and without the effect of the specialist advice and guidance diversions. Further details on the specialist advice metrics can be found here.

Independent Sector Activity

Collection of the Independent Sector Weekly Activity Return (IS WAR) has now ceased. From October 2024 independent sector activity will be reported using the Secondary Uses Service (SUS) Outpatients and Admitted Patient Care datasets. Due to definitional differences the SUS data are not comparable to the IS WAR data.

Management Information Data

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For further information about the published data relating to elective recovery, please contact the statistics team at england.electiverecovery-info@nhs.net

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Additional elective operations, appointments and tests

Completed pathway and value weighted activity recovery

Independent Sector Activity

Management Information Data

Contact Us