Government has overseen “years of decline” in cancer and elective care, say MPs
BMJ 2022; 376 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o682 (Published 16 March 2022) Cite this as: BMJ 2022;376:o682- Gareth Iacobucci
- The BMJ
The Department of Health and Social Care for England has presided over a sustained decline in the NHS’s performance on cancer and elective care that began long before the covid-19 pandemic, a damning report from MPs has concluded.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said in a report published on 16 March that the department had failed to sufficiently increase capacity to meet growing demand, causing waiting times to spiral.1 “On top of these previous failures and despite the heroic efforts of the NHS workforce, the covid-19 pandemic has inevitably caused a further huge deterioration in the NHS’s provision of elective and cancer care,” the report said.
Ever since February 2016 the NHS has not met its target to see 92% of people on the elective care waiting list within 18 weeks. It has also failed to meet the eight key …
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