Resetting the standard: How 18 Week Support is evolving to help NHS trusts meet RTT and cost pressures

A system under pressure. An insourcing partner stepping up.

For NHS leaders, 2025 presents a defining mission: to drive down costs and enhance referral-to-treatment (RTT) performance, without compromising care quality or patient experience. These aren’t competing goals anymore; they’re urgent imperatives. At 18 Week Support, we get it. That’s why we’ve reengineered our entire organisation to be more agile, more responsive, and laser-focused on supporting the NHS like never before.

In the last 12 months, we haven’t just kept pace with change, we’ve led it. With a revitalised leadership team, a streamlined delivery model, and smarter, more cost-effective ways of working, we’ve reimagined how we support the NHS. The result? A simpler, stronger offer: deliver more for less, without compromising on quality or long-term impact.

Built with the NHS, for the NHS

Our new executive team members – Josh Collins, Susan Veness, Omar Shahin, and Lesley Crosby – bring more than 100 years of collective healthcare expertise, most of it from inside the NHS.

That experience isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. We’ve walked in your shoes, navigated your challenges, and operated within the same constraints. Our CEO, Mr Collins, is a clinician himself, and our entire approach is clinically led, ensuring that care quality, safety and real-world practicality guide everything we do. That’s why we truly understand what matters most – and where existing support often misses the mark. With this knowledge, we’ve designed our roles, processes and pricing with your needs at the core. This isn’t insourcing that works for us. It’s insourcing that works for you.

More value, higher complexity

We know value expectations have changed, and NHS partners need to see more output for every pound spent, and rightly so. Our evolved model delivers:

• Whether your requirements are high-volume, low-complexity, or high-complexity, low-volume, our service specifications have evolved to provide broader support.
• A full “turn key” pathway solution including: advice and guidance, triage services, booking services, reception services and medical secretary services/typing.
• A renewed focus on utilisation – working with trust teams to improve the utilisation of our services, ensuring our value proposition is maintained.
• Services led by a substantively employed clinical and governance team, with built-in oversight from day one.
• A cost-conscious commercial model that helps you make every penny go further, without compromising patient care.
• And a reimagined approach to social value, ensuring our impact extends beyond throughput into sustainability and workforce development.

Innovation that serves the NHS

Innovation with purpose. We’ve launched a new Strategic Innovation and Service Development function – led by Georgina Bird – to help trusts uncover smarter, more cost-effective ways to deliver care. From pathway redesign to tech-enabled solutions, our focus is clear: empowering the NHS to deliver exceptional, accessible, and timely care efficiently and sustainably.

It all connects to our broader mission: to deliver outstanding care, cut waiting times, and build services that create lasting impact.

Our values? They’re rooted in what truly matters to the NHS: putting patients first, striving for performance excellence, and working in lockstep with our partners. These aren’t just words – they’re embedded in how we think, act, and deliver every day.

Measured impact

We are proud to have supported more than 100 trusts and health boards across the UK, but we know impact is best measured in outcomes, not promises. In the past year alone:

• 340,000+ outpatients seen
• 66,241 JAG points in endoscopy
• 11,000+ surgeries completed
• 99 per cent patient satisfaction
• Services operating below tariff
• Care Quality Commission registered care and can provide AQP-accredited services
• 23 substantively employed clinical leads and governance professionals ensuring front-loaded investment in quality

A partner that listens, evolves – and leads

We haven’t just made surface-level changes. We’ve done the hard work to make sure our services meet the operational, financial and clinical needs of today’s NHS. And while we’re proud of the progress we’ve made, we know the real test is in what we deliver, week in, week out, alongside our NHS partners.

For existing clients, our message is simple: you’ll continue to receive the safe, high-quality care you’ve trusted us with – now with greater efficiency and impact. For those who’ve worked with us in the past, we’re ready to demonstrate how we have evolved.

Looking ahead

The NHS needs partners who don’t just understand the pressure, but rise to meet it. At 18 Week Support, we have done exactly that: aligning our people, model, and culture to serve a system facing unprecedented demand.

We are ready to help you cut RTT times and hit your cost improvement targets – with a delivery model purpose-built for today’s NHS. If you are looking for a partner who brings real value without compromise, let’s start the conversation.