Meeting of the Parliament 14 June 2023
Let me start by acknowledging the importance of this topic. I welcome the opportunity to highlight the progress that has been made by our NHS and, equally, the challenges that we continue to face. It is important to state at the outset that we remain focused on ensuring that the health service recovers from the greatest challenge in its history, and I take this opportunity to thank our exceptional health and social care staff, who are at the heart of our services.
However, for many people accessing NHS or social care services, their experience is not what they or I would like it to be. There is work still to be done, and that is encapsulated in the published commitments that the First Minister and I have made to achieve a series of tangible improvements in the health and social care system by 2026. Those commitments include reducing NHS waiting times year on year and delivering new national treatment centres.
Inevitably, pausing planned treatment during the pandemic has led to a build-up in the number of people waiting. We must recognise that our health service has experienced unprecedented pressures, including pandemic backlogs, staff shortages and the most difficult winter in the NHS’s history. I recognise that challenges remain, but I am committed to delivering sustained improvements and year-on-year reductions in waiting times through service redesign and enhanced regional and national working.
Even in the face of those challenges, we continue to see progress in the reduction of long waits, following the introduction of the targets last year. We have seen a substantive reduction in new out-patient over-two-year waits since the targets were announced, with 80 per cent of specialties having fewer than 10 over-two-year waits while 20 per cent have none.