NHS chiefs are said to be privately concerned about Keir Starmer’s ambitious targets to cut waiting lists for routine operations, set to be announced later this week, which will also include specific targets on living standards and housebuilding.

The prime minister is expected on Thursday to set a target to carry out 92% of routine operations and appointments within 18 weeks, one that has not been achieved in almost a decade, the Times has reported.

At Rachel Reeves’s October budget, the chancellor promised an extra £22bn for the NHS to help cut waiting times. A source at the Department of Health denied any specific concerns had been raised yet by NHS England leadership over the planned targets.

No 10 insiders have insisted the new numerical targets, although risky, are a necessary recognition that Starmer’s “missions” which he set out in the run-up to the election were too conceptual for most people.

Reforms of NHS don’t stand a chance unless recruitment is fixed, say top nurses

Advertisement

Read more

The prime minister will cease rhetoric about achieving the highest growth in the G7 in favour of specific promises on a pledge to increase real disposable income. He will also recommit to a plan to build 1.5m affordable homes and to measurably improve school-readiness for nursery children.

The Times reported that the NHS pledges were concerning health bosses who had suggested to the department that it would mean cutbacks on other areas including A&E, community care and mental health services.

Lord Stevens of Birmingham, the former head of NHS England, told the House of Lords last week that mental health services were at particular risk: “At a time when, understandably, there will be great political focus on waiting times for physical health and routine operations, the most likely outcome, absent that mental health investment standard, would be that mental health services would get screwed at a time when other things are prioritised.”

The Times reported that health bosses had specific concerns about the mental health investment standard – the NHS promise to increase spending on mental health by at least as much as the overall budget is rising – which now may not be met.

In Labour’s pre-election pledges, the party said it would recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff in their first term of service, and reduce waiting times for people waiting for health care.

The Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden denied Starmer’s speech on Thursday was a reset after a rocky start for Labour in government.

“What we’re doing this week is setting out a plan for change over the next few years to tell the public what the key priorities are in these areas, but also to galvanise the government system because the truth is you need to drive the system if you’re going to deliver for the people,” he told Sky News.

“What we want to do to get children ready for school, to get NHS waiting lists down, to get more people the chance to have a home of their own.”