NHS England annual assessment published

The assessment shows NHS England has met or is making good progress towards 89% of the deliverables in the government’s multi-year mandate for 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019.

The assessment rates the NHS against objectives as laid out in the multi-year mandate, which came into effect April 2017.

The assessment shows progress has been made across many areas, including:

• mental health
• maternity care
• diabetes prevention
• preparing to embed genomics into routine care

However, while the NHS is treating more patients than ever, the assessment shows it needs to do more to reduce waiting times to meet core patient access standards set out in the NHS Constitution, including A&E, 62-day cancer and the referral to treatment waiting time standard.

Over the past few years demand for the NHS has grown while patient need has continued to be diverse and complex. Despite the challenges, the 1.3 million NHS staff have worked to meet commitments and make sure millions of patients receive the best care possible.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock said:

The NHS is this country’s most valued public service and we’re rightly supporting it with an extra £33.9 billion a year in vital funding by 2023 to 2024 as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.

We want to ensure this money benefits the frontline to help them deliver a sustainable and efficient health service across the country and we will be working with the NHS to safeguard our nation’s health for generations to come.