Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether NHS England has made an assessment of the level of financial resource required for the NHS to meet the 18 week referral to treatment target.
A number of factors impact on meeting the 18 week referral to treatment target, including levels of demand, productivity and resources. NHS England has set these out in their Next Steps on the National Health Service Five Year Forward View. There is a significant programme of work underway focussed on these areas.