Surgical waiting lists will not fall without investment in buildings and technology, says college president

Efforts to reduce NHS waiting times for elective care will stall unless the government makes major investment in infrastructure and new technology to boost capacity, a leading surgeon has warned.

Tim Mitchell, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said that if the government was serious about meeting the target for 92% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment—a target that has not been met for almost a decade—then it must make capital spending available to fund buildings and technology “even if that means difficult decisions about where that money is coming from.”

In a keynote speech at the Future Surgery conference in London on 1 October, Mitchell said, “The prime minister has …