Political opinion: Labour successfully busting NHS waiting list backlogs in Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals

The new government initiative to send top doctors to support hospital trusts including Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust where more people are out of work and waiting for treatment, is cutting waiting lists faster, new data shows.

In September, Health Secretary Wes Streeting sent in crack teams spearheaded by top clinicians to NHS hospitals serving communities with high levels of economic inactivity. The teams support NHS trusts to go further and faster to improve care in these areas.

At Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, waiting lists have been reduced by over 5,000 since October.

At the 20 selected Trusts across the country, teams of leading clinicians are introducing more productive ways of working to deliver more procedures, including running operating theatres like Formula One Pit stops to cut down on wasted time between operations.

Data shows that, across the country, the number of people unable to work due to long term sickness is at its highest since the 1990s. The number of adults economically inactive due to ill-health rose from 2.1m in July 2019 to a peak of 2.9m in October 2023. The decision to send the crack teams to these 20 trusts, including Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust first was based on the government’s aim to get people back to health and back to work, helping to cut the welfare bill.

Following the success of the programme, the government has confirmed similar crack teams will be rolled out to additional providers this year to boost NHS productivity and cut waiting times further.

Antonia Bance for Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley said: “I am absolutely delighted to see waiting lists falling in Sandwell and West Birmingham.

“Behind these statistics are local residents in Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley who have been stuck in pain, for months or even years, on the record NHS waiting lists that rocketed under the Tories.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The investment and reform this government has introduced has already cut NHS waiting lists by 193,000, but there is much more to do.

“By sending top doctors to provide targeted support to hospitals in the areas of highest economic inactivity, we are getting sick Brits back to health and back to work.

“I am determined to transform health and social care so it works better for patients – but also because I know that transformation can help drag our economy out of the sluggish productivity and poor growth of recent years.

“We have to get more out of the NHS for what we put in. By taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, reforming the way surgeries are running, we are cutting waiting lists twice as fast at no extra cost to the taxpayer.

“As we boost NHS productivity and deliver fundamental reform through our Plan for Change, you will see improvements across the service in the coming weeks and months.”