Getting Better At Waiting  

Most of us know what it feels like to sit in a hospital waiting room, and it is not often a pleasant experience. The time spent waiting can be worrying, stressful and uncomfortable. Indeed, waiting for any kind of treatment is never going to be easy - which is why the Liberal Democrats are committed to keeping waiting times low. We aim to do this while engaging in the difficult task, set in motion by the last Labour Government, to find £20 billion of efficiency savings by 2015. Last year I said that people needed to be seen and diagnosed even faster - and we are on our way to achieving this goal. Recent data shows that waiting times in the NHS have been maintained. Latest figures also show that nationally, the NHS as a whole delivered the NHS Constitution standards of 90 per cent of admitted patients and 95 per cent of non-admitted patients starting their treatment within 18 weeks of referral. The...