Two million NHS appointments pledge has been met, says Streeting – but is he right? ...Middle East

The Government has said it has met its manifesto commitment to provide an extra two million NHS appointments in its first year of taking office.

The target was achieved between July and November last year, when there were 2.2 million more elective care appointments compared with the same period in 2023, NHS figures show.

Here, The i Paper takes a look at whether the Government’s claim is true.

In its election manifesto, Labour said: “As a first step, in England we will deliver an extra two million NHS operations, scans, and appointments every year; that is 40,000 more appointments every week.

“We will do this by incentivising staff to carry out additional appointments out of hours. Labour will pool resources across neighbouring hospitals to introduce shared waiting lists to allow patients to be treated quicker.”

NHS figures released on Monday showed there were 31.3 million operations, appointments and tests between July and November 2024, compared with 29.1 million over the same period in 2023.

Elective care covers a broad range of planned, non-emergency services, from diagnostic tests and scans to outpatient appointments, surgeries and cancer treatment.

Could the figures still change?

However, there is still another seven months of data yet to be released, and it is possible that the trend could reverse and lead to the Government not meeting its manifesto pledge.

The figures for the year to July 2025 will give a clearer picture of the entire year since Labour took office and provide confirmation of whether the manifesto commitment has indeed been reached.

Sir Keir Starmer said the Government was “not complacent” and knows “the job isn’t done”, vowing further reform to deliver faster treatment.

The Prime Minister said: “Two million extra NHS appointments and a waiting list on its way down – we’re delivering on our promise to fix the NHS and make sure people get the care they need, when they need it.

“We said we’d turn this around and that’s exactly what we’re doing – this milestone is a shot in the arm for our plan to get the NHS back on its feet and cut waiting times.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC: “We’ve delivered on our first step, and we’ve delivered it seven months early. But I don’t want anyone watching to think we’re doing victory laps.

“There are still massive challenges in the NHS, a hell of a lot further to go on waiting lists.”

The lower 2023 figures include dates when consultants and their more junior doctors were on strike, meaning fewer appointments were available for this comparison period.

There were more strikes in 2024 which could also mean fewer appointments compared with the first half of 2025.

Consultants ended their pay dispute with the government in April 2024, while the Conservatives were in office. Under the terms of the deal, some received a pay increase of nearly 20 per cent for the financial year 2023-24.

Junior doctors ended their strikes after agreeing to a 22 per cent pay rise over two years in September 2024. The offer was made by Streeting.

Some have suggested that Labour is taking credit for work done by the Conservatives.

Given that the offer accepted by consultants was made by the previous government, this is partly true.

Labour’s manifesto said: “Too many patients have seen their treatment affected by strikes. Labour will reset relations with NHS staff, moving away from the Conservatives’ failed approach.”

During the election, Labour also pledged to end hospital backlogs to meet the NHS standard of 92 per cent of patients in England waiting no longer than 18 months for elective treatment.

The manifesto said: “Labour’s immediate priority on health will be to get a grip on the record waiting list. We will return to meeting NHS performance standards.

“That means patients should expect to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral for consultant-led treatment of non-urgent health conditions. This standard was achieved with the last Labour government and will be again under the next.”

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Figures published last week showed the number of people waiting for appointments is starting to fall.

An estimated 7.46 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of December in England, down from 7.48 million treatments at the end of November.

Streeting said there was still “a hell of a lot more to do”, adding: “People are still struggling to get GP appointments, and GPs are struggling, let me tell you, with the hard caseload they’ve got, and we’ve also got big challenges on things like ambulance response times and A&E trolley corridor care.”

He added: “I wish I could sit here now and tell you that, by next Christmas, there will be no-one waiting on a trolley in a corridor. I can’t make that promise, but what I can tell you is that we will deliver year-on-year improvement, and I’m determined to see an end to that kind of corridor care.”

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