More money, more choice, more of the private sector: can the next government repeat the feat of the 2000s and cut waiting times?

The Health Foundation - 
NHS waiting times are a central issue of the 2024 election campaign. Proposed solutions – more money, more staff, more use of the independent sector and strengthening patient choice – are mostly shared between the two main parties. More money, more choice and more private sector provision helped reduce median waiting times (under old measures) from 12 weeks to 5 weeks in the decade following the 1997 election. This long read analyses the data to assess whether this is possible again.

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