The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh welcomes the Prime Minister's plan to end waiting list backlogs through millions more appointments.
Professor Rowan Parks, President of RCSEd, commented:
"We welcome the plans set out by the Prime Minister to tackle waiting lists, based on increasing patient appointments in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) as well as the plans to launch fourteen new and three expanded surgical centres in England by June. This is something RCSEd has been lobbying on for some time and will help reduce the current long waiting list of patients awaiting assessment and ringfence elective surgery from the impact of seasonal and pressures of unscheduled care."
"In addition to the £1.5billion commitment for capital investment, it will be important that appropriate infrastructure and staffing ensures these facilities can function effectively and efficiently. We are acutely aware of just how much pressure the NHS workforce is under, and the multiple factors affecting recruitment and retention. Therefore, these proposals need to be complemented by robust and continuous workforce planning to ensure the NHS has the skills and capacity to deliver these objectives."