Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (): I am today laying in Parliament the
government's mandate to NHS England, and NHS England are
publishing the operational planning guidance for the NHS.
This government won the election to deliver change. The mandate
and operational planning guidance mark a significant step on a
long journey to get the NHS back on its feet, and drive the
reform that's needed to make it fit for the future.
The mandate and operational planning guidance address the urgent
challenges facing the NHS, as highlighted by the Darzi
investigation. They put the NHS on the road to recovery and
reflect patient priorities to cut waiting times, improve access
to primary care and to improve urgent and emergency care. They
reflect the need for the NHS to live within its means; ensuring
investment in the NHS, against a challenging economic and fiscal
backdrop, is matched with reform to the operating model and a
sharp focus on improving efficiency and productivity.
Patients need high-quality elective care delivered in a timely
fashion, where patients have choice and control over their care.
I am re-focusing the NHS on making progress towards the 18-week
standard, and the steps to achieve this were set out in our
Elective Reform Plan.
This mandate supports the modernisation of primary and community
care that will help patients get timely access to a GP
appointment. The mandate is the start of us delivering our
manifesto commitment to provide 700,000 urgent dental
appointments to address our dentistry crisis.
Right now, patients are not receiving urgent and emergency care
when they need it. Today's changes will put patients at the
centre of delivery - focusing on safety, experience and outcomes
- and we will tackle variation in services delivered across the
country, bringing the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.
These changes come ahead of publishing, in 2025, our strategy to
fix urgent and emergency care.
Patients' priorities will be delivered through a new operating
model, which will devolve power closer to the frontline and allow
the best performing providers and ICBs to earn more autonomy to
provide services needed by their local communities. All while
ensuring a focus on efficiency and productivity to support the
NHS to live within its means.
This year's operational planning guidance puts these objectives
into practice with fewer targets, giving local systems greater
control and flexibility over how local funding is deployed to
best meet the needs of the people they serve.
I am instructing the NHS to focus on the fundamentals and get
back to basics. We are giving local leaders clear directions to
prioritise cutting elective care waiting lists, improve A&E
and ambulance wait times, improve access to GPs and urgent dental
care, and solve the mental health crisis.
2025-26 must be a year of financial reset for the NHS. The budget
settlement for the NHS is welcome and we will ensure it is spent
wisely through financial rigour to deliver services for patients.
NHS providers are being asked to undertake a 1% reduction in cost
base, while raising their productivity and efficiency by 4%.
Making decisions like these are never easy, but when I joined the
department I pledged to make sure every penny was spent in a way
that provides the best value for the patients. Together we will
bring reform to the NHS and get it back on its feet.
