Health Services: Waiting Lists
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to expand the Further Faster 20 programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The Further Faster 20 (FF20) initiative was announced in September 2024, run by the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) team in NHS England to deploy expert advice to National Health Service trusts in areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity to get patients treated faster.
Data from October 2024 to August 2025 shows waiting lists across these areas have been reduced by over 66,000.
Whilst there are currently no formal plans to expand the FF20 programme, key learnings have been taken from the FF20 work to date which are available to all trusts. This includes vital work on clinic template standardisation. An operational guide developed by GIRFT from FF20 trust engagement demonstrates to trusts across the country how they can unlock additional outpatient capacity and activity across relevant specialities. Work is ongoing to support trusts to adopt approaches outlined in this guidance.
GIRFT is a national programme designed to improve the treatment and care of patients across more than 40 surgical and medical specialties, including diagnostics, day case surgery, outpatient services and clinical coding. GIRFT has already expanded its on-the-ground support to NHS trusts through the GIRFT Further Faster Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) programme to support 20 acute providers in England strengthen UEC pathways ahead of the winter period.
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