A new digital service forms part of the long-awaited NHS recovery plan to address backlogs from the pandemic, unveiled by UK health secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday (8 Jan).

The Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care, developed with Royal colleges, patient groups and health charities, sets out plans to use digital tools and data to manage waiting lists more efficiently.

It includes roll-out of a new web-based platform called My Planned Care, which aims to increase transparency on waiting times and provide support while patients await treatment.

The recovery blueprint also includes plans for more than 100 community diagnostic centres, new surgical hubs, and increased capacity to offer tests, checks and treatments.

WHY IT MATTERS

Almost six million people in England were waiting to start routine hospital treatment in November 2021 and 5.7 million were on waiting lists at the end of August, according to NHS figures.

NHS staff have been under pressure to recover services while dealing with the Omicron variant, high levels of staff absence, and rolling-out booster vaccinations.

The new plan aims to eliminate waits of longer than a year for elective care by March 2025 and ensure nobody waits longer than two years for elective treatment by July 2022.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

This week NHS England revealed interim arrangements for a major tech restructure, which will see NHSX and NHS Digital merged into a new transformational directorate.

ON THE RECORD

Javid said: “Our COVID backlog recovery plan will help the NHS reduce waiting times, give patients more control over their care, and harness innovative technology to free up staff time so they can care for more people up and down the country can get the treatment they need.”

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “That [addressing backlogs in care] cannot happen overnight but we are determined to make the best possible use of the additional investment and take the best from our pandemic response, including smarter use of digital care and flexible working between teams and trusts, while building this additional diagnostic capacity that will help to accelerate progress.”

Matthew Taylor, NHS confederation chief executive, said: “The NHS is working hard to prioritise patients with the greatest clinical need, including by carrying out 1.3m consultant-led treatments in a single month and we have seen some brilliant examples of innovation where data and technology have been used to both support patients and ramp up activity.”

Rachel Power, Patients Association chief executive, said: “We hope that communication will be delivered in formats that suit individual patients, as not everybody has access to digital technology or knows how to use it. It is critical that as the NHS tackles the enormous backlog in care, it does not inadvertently increase health inequalities the pandemic has highlighted, by providing information and support that is not accessible to patients living disadvantaged lives.”