questionText: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department’s policy is on the use of minimum waiting times for elective NHS care; and whether he has considered prohibiting the use of such waiting times less than 18 weeks.
answerText: As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. As of August 2025, the waiting list had reduced ...
heading: Surgery: Waiting Lists