UPDATE: |Hospitals to get ‘unlimited incentive payments’ to take patients off waiting lists, say reports News

NHS trusts have this week been ordered to “validate” their entire waiting list, reports say, meaning every patient will be removed and anyone who could be treated elsewhere, or does not need an appointment with a specialist, will be removed

Hospitals will receive unlimited ‘incentive payments’ to remove people staff decide do not need treatment from their waiting lists, it has been reported.

Hospitals will receive an “incentive payment” for each patient they remove, and a payment cap of five per cent of a trust’s waiting list is being scrapped, according to documents seen by the Guardian, the publication reported. That means there is no limit to the payments NHS trusts could receive for taking patients off their waiting lists.

In an effort to slash waiting lists and free up consultants to see those most in need, NHS trusts have this week been ordered to “validate” their entire waiting list, the Guardian’s report continued.

That process means reviewing every patient and removing anyone who could be treated elsewhere, or does not need an appointment with a specialist. Those whose symptoms have eased or who have already used private healthcare to undergo surgery, for example, will also be taken off the list.

That could prompt criticisms among patient charities that some people could be incorrectly kicked off their list, the Guardian reports, told by ‘NHS sources’ that ‘patients would not be removed until they had spoken to a member of the hospital team and a clinician had reviewed their case. Any patient removed would receive a letter and their GP be notified.’

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It comes amid warnings that thousands in desperate need are still facing mammoth delays to their treatment in NHS hospitals – despite waiting lists falling for the six month in a row in February.

NHS analysis suggests about 300,000 people on the waiting list do not require elective care or treatment. And health experts have already warned that cancer patients especially were still facing crushing waits for lifesaving treatment. Long waits in A&E are also higher than the same point last year, add experts.

The Guardian reports recent figures showing the overall waiting list comprised an estimated 7.40m treatments relating to 6.24 million patients at the end of February – down from 7.43m treatments and 6.25 million patients at the end of January.

Of patients urgently referred for suspected cancer, 80.2 per cent were diagnosed or had it ruled out within 28 days in February. This was up from 73.4 per cent the previous month and was the highest since the target was introduced in April 2021.

However, the proportion of patients who waited no longer than 62 days from an urgent suspected cancer referral, or consultant upgrade, to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 67.0 per cent, down slightly from 67.3 per cent. The government and NHS England have set a target of March 2026 to get this figure up to 75 per cent.

NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have been approached for comment.