Observatory welcomes government plan on reforming elective care for patients but also urges focus on racial health disparities

Responding to the future elective recovery plan, Sam Rodger, Assistant Director, Policy and Strategy of the NHS Race and Health Observatory said:

“The government has today published its eagerly awaited plans to reform elective care in the NHS. Having made waiting lists a cornerstone of their election campaign, this is likely to be a profoundly influential document over the coming years. It’s heartening to see that tackling health inequalities is included in the plan and that there’s recognition of the fact that the elective backlog affects some groups more than others, but as is often the case, there is a far greater focus on geographic disparity than on race. The plan contains many practical steps to increase access to elective appointments and improve data quality but does not engage with any of the many structural barriers that are unique to ethnic minority communities, chief among them being trust.

“As our work has shown, Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities were already experiencing longer waits before the pandemic, and that this disparity was exacerbated in the first year after the pandemic. We know that meaningful community engagement and co-production are vitally important if we want NHS services to work for all communities in an inclusive way. The government accepts that it will take four years to meet its 18-week-standard, meaning this inequity will persist, and countless individuals will continue to struggle to access routine care. It’s vitally important that, should these improvements materialise, they materialise for everyone.”

See our report on the elective care backlog and ethnicity, and our review of digital apps and reducing ethnic health inequalities.