What now constitutes effective performance on elective care

Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, spoke alongside Professor Catherine Urch, divisional director for surgery, cardiovascular and cancer at Imperial College Healthcare Trust and Karina Malhotra, managing director of Acumentice.

Together they discussed what now constitutes effective performance on elective care in a free webinar that took place from 10am on Thursday 5 November, and was run in association with Acumentice.

Even before all elective activity was suspended in light of the covid pandemic, performance on the 18-week referral to treatment standard had been steadily weakening for some time. Trusts must now confront an even more complicated situation: the backlog of patients has grown and the likelihood is that referrals will increase.

All this against the backdrop of NHS England guidance that the service must return to near-normal levels of non-covid health services, and a second wave of covid cases in many parts of the country.

In these circumstances, panellists discussed how trusts can seek to manage waiting lists in the most effective way possible.