NHSE sets new target for longest waiters

NHS England has tasked systems and providers with ending or significantly reducing 104-week waits for community mental health services by March 2025, following worsening performance.

It was announced in a webinar held by NHSE last week, in which mental health programme directors explained how the new metric would be implemented this autumn.

They confirmed that when an integrated care board or provider has a “small number” of 104-week waits, they should work to end them by March, and provide “trajectories” for 78-week and 52-week waits.

For those with a “larger number” of long waits, NHSE said ICBs should work with providers to agree an improvement plan throughout the rest of 2024-25. It said they would need to “detail ICB and provider-level trajectories” and submit these soon.

It said: “At a minimum, ICBs should ensure that less than 10 per cent of community mental health waits are over 104 weeks.”

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Source: HSJ, 18 July 2024