NHS England’s latest Elective Recovery Bulletin heralds the well-trailed switch ‘from a long wait focus back to the 18 week standard’. Restoration of ‘18 weeks’ has been a key Labour pledge since the start of the general election campaign and into government.

The change is welcome. The current targets to eliminate long waits were not well designed, and the 18 week standard – already enshrined in legislation – has a long track record. After it was announced in 2011, it led to the shortest waiting times ever achieved in the English NHS.

The NHS now needs to change gears. Managers will have to plan their activity and capacity towards an 18 week standard in over four years time, which is very different from the current practice of tracking lists of named patients who would otherwise breach a milestone target in a few months time.

Long range planning… short range planning… both are tasks that Gooroo Planner was designed for. You tell it what you want to achieve (e.g. 18 weeks in 2029, or a milestone in 2026), and it works out the activity and capacity needed to keep up with demand and deliver your objective. You can set Planner up quickly, and even automate it, and it has a long track record with both providers and commissioners.

To get in shape for the coming planning round, drop us a line. This is the perfect time to put the right tools in place, and avoid faltering in the crucial first year of the ‘18 weeks’ recovery.