At WHE, we aspire to work with healthcare providers and hospitals to transform the UK health sector together. Our goal is to reduce waiting times in order to optimize the quality of care patients receive across the country.

Patients referred by their GP for consultant-led treatment should, in line with NHS standards, start treatment within 18 weeks. The waiting time target is that 92% of those on the waiting list should have been waiting for less than 18 weeks. There is also a ‘zero tolerance’ policy to patients waiting longer than 52 weeks.

On average, there are 1.3 million completed ‘pathways’ for routine treatment each month – around 60,000 per working day. Of these, around 0.3 million involve admission.

The waiting list for treatment has grown since 2012. The recorded figure currently stands at 3.72 million (as of the end of Nov 2017), unchanged from Nov 2016 but up from 2.52 million at the end of Nov 2010. Including estimates for missing data, the waiting list is currently thought to be at 4.02 million.

Between June 2012 and June 2017, the waiting list grew 47% faster than the increase in population.

There is clearly a capacity issue in that the NHS is significantly under-resourced. This, together with an aging population and a growing waiting list for routine treatment, is causing serious backlogs for the National Health Service.

Based on this information alone, it is evident that WHE arrives in an industry desperately needeing quality help and support.