Provider collaboratives building capacity

The NHS is facing a significant task to recover waiting lists for planned care. Over 7.5 million people are waiting for procedures and operations, after rising elective waiting lists were exacerbated by disruption to health services due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Provider collaboratives are taking a lead to increase capacity by realising the unique opportunities offered by working at scale and managing patient flow and waiting times across their systems.
A major barrier to improving access to elective care is the availability of suitable facilities. The £1.5bn announced by the government in October 2021 to deliver elective hubs has helped trusts and systems prioritise this work in the context of constrained capital budgets.
Elective hubs are emerging as an important contributor to the planned recovery of elective waiting times, as they are intended to provide an additional one million operations in 2024/25. This increase in activity would substantially reduce the waiting list, but will require sustained investment, and protected staffing. These resources are essential if hubs are to succeed.
It is too soon to fully evaluate the nationwide impact of elective hubs. However, providers have said their hubs have been a catalyst for effective collaboration, and where they are succeeding this is building confidence in considering future opportunities to collaborate on major system challenges.