Waiting lists cut three times faster in highest joblessness areas

• Trusts part of ‘Further Faster 20' programme saw backlogs cut dramatically and productivity increased, helping get people back to work
• Scheme is just one modernisation success story amid the NHS recovery, and comes one year on from the launch of the government's Elective Reform Plan

Specialist NHS teams helped cut waiting lists three times faster than the national average, a new report has revealed.

Thousands of patients across England benefitted from the Further Faster 20 (FF20) programme, which helped slash waiting times, turbocharge activity and is getting people back to work.

Crack teams of experts were sent to 20 hospital trusts across England with the highest levels of economic inactivity, with the aim of cutting the waiting list and boosting growth.

The health service will take learnings from the programme and use these to take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.

The findings of the FF20 report come as the government marks one year since the launch of the Elective Reform Plan – where record NHS funding is directed towards cutting waiting lists and getting patients seen on time again. 

Since July 2024, the waiting list is down by more than 225,000 despite 28.4 million referrals, making a huge difference to people's lives up and down the country.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

We said our Elective Reform Plan would get waiting lists down, and one year on that's exactly what it's delivering. Along with record investment, we're doing things differently to get patients seen quicker, back to work and living their lives.

By sending crack teams into hospitals to supercharge care, opening more Community Diagnostic Centres longer and later, and cutting wasteful spending, we're turning the tanker round and patients are starting to feel the difference.

It will be a long road, but together with NHS staff, we are fixing our health service and make it fit for the future and beyond.

Mark Cubbon, NHS England's National Director for Planned Care, said:

NHS staff have been relentless in their efforts to bring waiting times down, and today's figures show patients are starting to see the benefits – not only getting the care they need faster but also being supported back into the job market.

The last year has seen the NHS take great strides to deliver more tests and scans closer to home, and cut unnecessary and time-consuming appointments and processes, so that people can get the surgery they need faster.

The NHS will continue to deliver on the Elective Reform Plan and ensure people can get the treatment they need in a timely manner.

The FF20 programme sees teams work alongside local staff to transform how planned operations and outpatient appointments are delivered. This includes High Flow Theatre Lists, where experts perform ‘Formula 1 style' surgery with theatres operating continuously, allowing surgeons to complete planned operations quicker. 

Streamlining outpatient processes also played a major role. Trusts cut unnecessary appointments by sending patients “straight to test” rather than multiple clinic visits.

South Tees alone created 4,000 extra appointment slots by optimising the way it ran outpatient clinics, while Bolton cut wasted slots by 20% through better capacity management. East Lancashire deployed AI-powered dictation for pre-operative assessments, boosting nurse productivity by 14%.

The evaluation, published today by NHS England, found that over the 12 months from October 2024 to October 2025, waiting lists in FF20 areas fell three times faster than the rest of the country - with a 4.2% reduction compared to 1.4% nationally. For working-age adults, the difference was even starker: lists fell more than five times faster, helping get people treated and back into the workforce.

This initiative is having a major impact in slashing treatment times, and getting the NHS working again.

The Elective Reform Plan, launched in January 2025, set out how the government will return the health service its target of ensuring 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks for from referral to treatment by the end of the parliament.

In addition to the FF20 programme, across the country the government and NHS have together created more evening and weekend clinics, new and expanded community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs, millions of extra GP appointments, thousands more frontline staff, and smarter technology.

As a result, the NHS continues to deliver above target productivity growth, with 2.7% growth between April 2024 and March 2025, and a further 2.5% in the first five months of this financial year. This means not only is the government boosting NHS capacity, it's getting more bang for the taxpayer's buck.

Daniel Elkeles, Chief Executive, NHS Providers, said: 

It's great to see NHS trusts' innovation and hard work to see patients quickly, cut waiting lists and boost productivity making such a huge contribution to the economy and growth. This is all the more impressive given the impact of record demand, resident doctor strikes and a relentless focus on delivering a financial ‘break even' position for the NHS as a whole.

Mr Tim Mitchell, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England), said: 

It is encouraging to see targeted support helping trusts run operating lists and outpatient clinics more efficiently.  Long waits carry real human costs - prolonged pain, loss of independence, time away from work and disrupted lives.  This initiative shows what's possible with focused investment. Our surgical workforce census shows surgeons are ready to do more operations, and with the right theatres, staffing and bed capacity in place, the NHS can go further and faster in tackling waiting lists.