Anyone who has been waiting for more than 40 weeks will be asked how far they are willing to go to receive care sooner. The move will see the NHS contacting up to 400,000 people who do not have an appointment booked within eight weeks.
Anyone who is willing to attend an alternative hospital will be able to say how far they would travel – 50 miles, 100 miles or anywhere nationally.
Their details will then be uploaded to the NHS’s Digital Mutual Aid System, where providers with spare capacity can offer to take on their care.
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the service is making “great progress” in reducing the longest waits despite the impact of industry strikes.
She added: “This new step to offer NHS patients who have been waiting the longest the opportunity to consider travelling for treatment is just another example of how we are introducing new approaches to reduce how long patients wait, while improving the choice and control they have over their own care.
“Giving this extra option to these patients also demonstrates the clear benefits of a single national health service, with staff able to share capacity right across the country.
“Whether a patient’s care moves to the next town or somewhere further away, it is absolutely right that we make the most of available capacity across the country to reduce the backlogs that have inevitably built up due to the pandemic.”
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “Empowering people to choose where and when they receive their treatment will help tackle waiting lists and improve access to NHS care.
“From today, those waiting 40 weeks or more will be given more options to speed up treatment, including at hospitals with shorter waiting times or using capacity within the independent sector.”
The latest NHS data showed 7.7million patients were caught in the backlog for planned procedures.
