Pledge of 2m extra NHS appointments met, PM says
Health / Mon 17th Feb 2025 at 07:54am
THE government has met a key election pledge to deliver two million extra NHS appointments in England in its first year, the prime minister has said reports the BBC.
The target was achieved between July and November last year, when there were almost 2.2 million more elective care appointments compared to the same period in 2023, the government said.
That period was affected by doctor strikes, however, which would have suppressed the number of available appointments.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4z4vw3p1do
Brian Ashton
2025-02-17 10:54:42
Remind me. Is this a like for like comparison. If my memory is correct the time period that they are comparing to was during thr Doctors strike. It is like saying holiday flights are up compared to the middle of the pandemic. Remember the old adage lies, damn lies and statistics
Peter
2025-02-17 14:29:57
This is surely good news! So, the comparisons are not relevant because there are strikes, nonsense, what is relevant is that there are 2million more appointments, meaning lots of people having the chance to have their ailment treated
Guy Flegman
2025-02-17 15:00:46
It’s subtle stuff. It does not say that 2 million more people were seen, only the appointments were made available. I know people with appointments over a year away. Maybe these extra appointments are 2 years away. This is probably more aligned with the promises they made before being elected that they backtracked on as “ it was not in the manifesto”. Smoke and mirrors come to mind.
Nick
2025-02-18 08:14:59
I cannot even begin to imagine that achieving an increase of 2 million appointments is a victory or has any grounds for celebration, anyone who does must be deluded at the very least. The predicted population of England for 2025 is 68.4 million so the extra appointments cater for just 2.92% of the population. Does this even reach the 'drop in the ocean' target category? This is not the time or place for a lets bash the labour govt diatribe because the current problems within the NHS go back decades and are the responsibility of many governments. Mental Health (the Cinderella service) had an opportunity in the late 80's early 90's to rebrand itself as the premier care in the community service when the great asylums like Claybury and Friern Barnet began to close, that was beginning to show some success but then the govt of the day decided to cut the promised investment budget by almost 2 thirds, we all have seen what happened then. In 1997 when new labour came to power they rushed through the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997 something the previous govt had been working on and that essentially took away the clinicians power to decide on service provision and instead gave it to the civil servants and accountants. There are many more examples of successive governments playing political football with our NHS claiming they care when in truth most of them haven't a clue except for what they are told by their civil servants, how many ministers have actually had experience inside the NHS (not as a patient)? Frankly as long as the service is run by faceless accountants who have no interest in clinicians making decisions because they are only interested in the bottom line of their spreadsheets (2m extra appointments is the latest) Nothing substantial will change, we patients will still struggle to speak or see our GP's or have waits of months or even years for hospital appointments. I could go on but I won't ...for now
Kim
2025-02-18 10:22:55
OF COURSE NUMBERS WILL COME DOWN, IF THEY ARE REMOVING PEOPLE FROM THE HOSPITAL LIST,, FOR PEOPLE, WHO THE GOVERNMENT SAY ARE LESS IMPORTANT CASES.. ITS LIKE REMOVING PEOPLE FROM THE HOUSING LISTS, THAT ARE IN RENTAL ACOMADATION, OF COURSE LISTS WILL COME DOWN.. THEY THINK WE DONT SEE IT..
James Gamble
2025-02-19 14:11:08
Brian Ashton it is compared to Tory failures, which including their failure to resolve disputes with one of the most moderate intellectual workers unions. We are talking about doctors including consultants along with nurses. Hardly lefties.
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