UK set to slash waiting time targets:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The UK government is expected to pledge a significant reduction in treatment waiting times - one of a series of targets on which it will base its election manifesto for healthcare, due to be announced next week. According to an article in The Times today, it will promise to cut the maximum GP-to-treatment waiting time from 13 months to 18 weeks. However, the opposition Conservative party is expected to try to upstage this by promising to eliminate waiting times altogether if elected. Earlier this week, it pledged to increase the NHS budget by £34bn ($62bn) a year, pushing the total to £124bn by 2010 (see Clinica 1112, p 7). So far, the government has promised to increase public health spending from £72bn in 2003-04 to £106bn in 2007-08.