Can the push for patient-initiated follow-up transform secondary care consultations?

Credit: MartinPrescott/iStock.com

By Daniel Pye

In its elective care reform plans to reduce waiting times, the government wants patient-initiated follow-ups to be offered as standard “in all appropriate pathways” by March 2026. Can this reduce pressures on secondary care consultations?

Last year, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to end hospital backlogs by meeting the NHS standard of 92% of patients waiting no more than 18 weeks for elective treatment.

NHS statistics (pdf) from September found that only 59% of the 7.6 million cases of patients on referral to treatment pathways were seen within 18 weeks. Almost 250,000 people had been waiting more than a year, according to NHS England data.

One of the ways in which the government is looking to bring down the waiting list is through PIFU, which would put the onus on patients to make an appointment if their health declines after treatment rather than a date automatically being put in the calendar for a consultation.