Virtual wards and artificial intelligence part of £160m funding to cut NHS waiting times

Tens of thousands of patients will get access to one stop testing facilities and pop-up clinics under a new £160m NHS initiative to identify ways of tackling the huge backlog of patients that built up during the pandemic.

Last month the British Medical Journal reported that 4.7 million people were waiting to begin treatment at the end of February this year— the highest number since records began in 2007.

NHS England said it will trial new ways of working in 12 groups of NHS trusts and five specialist children’s hospitals to “develop a blueprint” for recovery after the pandemic.

These “elective accelerators” will each receive a share of £160 million along with additional support to implement and evaluate initiatives such as virtual at-home assessments, 3D eye scanners and new clinics that can complete high numbers of cataract operations.

At-home antibiotic kits, Artificial Intelligence in GP surgeries and ‘Super Saturday’ clinics – where multi-disciplinary teams come together at the weekend to offer more specialist appointments – will also be trialled.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said: “The pandemic has been truly awful for all of us. But as the pressure begins to ease and we start to build back our NHS we need to capture some of the good that came out of the last 12 months – be that through better use of technology, streamlined appointment booking, more efficient ways of working – the list is almost endless.”

The announcement comes as GPs criticise the government’s plans to curb face-to-face appointments in favour of video consultations even after the vaccination programme has been completed.

Guidance issued last month by NHS England, seen by The Telegraph, says that when a patient calls, they should be encouraged to go online. Although practices may decide some “agreed exceptions”, doctors are instructed to “avoid directly booking patients who telephone the practice into an appointment”.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has criticised the measures, saying that the move will not reduce GP workloads and may risk ‘‘softer cues” for serious illnesses being missed. The group said the relationship between patients and doctors may also be damaged.

Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the RCGP, said: “As we move out of the pandemic, it needs to be down to individual GP practices to be able to decide how they deliver services, based on their knowledge of their patient population. Ultimately, we want to be able to offer patients the choice as to how they want to access GP services based on their health needs.”