As today’s NHS backlog plan announcement is delayed, the health secretary refutes suggestions that the hold up is because of a funding dispute with Rishi Sunak.

Javid and Johnson had been due to make an announcement about the government’s plan to deal with the NHS backlog today. The Daily Telegraph reports that the postponement of the long-awaited plan to tackle lengthy NHS waiting lists was due to escalating tension between the Treasury and No 10.

The Telegraph’s story suggests the Treasury had refused to sign of the NHS’s backlog plans in a “last-minute intervention over the weekend.” Subsequently, the publication of the ‘National Recovery Plan’ for the health service, which was due out today, was called off – the report claims.

‘Tensions between No 10 and Rishi Sunak’

The Telegraph’s report, published yesterday – Sunday February 6 – claims the ‘multi-billion-pound programme has been put on ice amid tensions between No 10 and Rishi Sunak.’  The story cites sources which have concerns over value for money following target deadlines being missed because of the surge of the Omicron variant.

However, Sajid Javid has denied such allegations, citing a ‘roadblock with Omicron’ as the reason today’s announcement is not going ahead.

Speaking to Sky News, the health secretary said because of the Omicron variant, the government “rightly changed our focus to boosters”, and that the plan to deal with the NHS backlog will be published “shortly.”   

The plan was delayed “because we had a roadblock with Omicron”, Javid said, adding: “I had planned to publish the plan in December. We were almost there, we were agreeing it finally with the NHS and across government, but because of Omicron we’ve rightly changed our focus, especially to boosters and to focus on that.”

‘Catastrophic impact on patients waiting for NHS care’

The immensity of the NHS backlog and its repercussions were highlighted in a report issued by the House of Commons Committee in December 2021.

The ‘Clearing the backlog caused by the pandemic’ report notes that how, as we enter the third year of the pandemic, the “catastrophic impact on patients waiting for NHS care is becoming clearer.”

Of the  5.8 million patients waiting to start treatment in September 2021, 300,000 have been waiting more than a year and 12,000 more than two years, states the government’s official report.

National Recovery Plan

The National Recovery Plan is a multi-billion-pound plan to tackle the NHS backlog. It has been the subject of discussion between No 10, the Treasury, the Department of Health and the NHS in recent weeks.

News that the long-awaited ‘National Recovery Plan’ for the health service has been delayed was immediately jumped on by health leaders and the opposition.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts in England, said the plan should be published as quickly as possible in order to help the health service tackle the 6 million-strong backlog.

Keir Starmer was also quick to hit out, saying “the longer it takes, the greater waiting lists will be.”

 “The government saying it needs more time is not going to cut much ice with the people on those waiting lists,” the Labour leader said.

The delay in publishing a plan to cut the NHS backlog being allegedly caused by the Treasury refusing to sign off the spending, was, according to Starmer, the “price” the UK was paying for a government dogged by Covid rule-breaking allegations.

Sentiment echoed by others, who blame internal Tory bickering for the delay of the vital NHS backlog plan.

As someone tweeted:

“As usual, the country suffers because of internal Tory Party quarrels – exactly the precipitating cause of Brexit.”

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward.

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