The upcoming parliamentary debate on 6 January 2026 concerning NHS backlogs is poised to be a critical examination of the ongoing crisis of long waiting times for diagnosis and treatment in England. Amid persistent public concern over waiting lists, diagnostic delays, and A&E pressures, Members of Parliament will scrutinise the government's progress, challenge current policies, and demand accountability for performance targets.
This debate coincides with the anniversary of the government's high-profile Elective Reform Plan announced in January 2025. That plan promised "millions more appointments" and the expansion of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) and surgical hubs to reduce waits. A central focus of the scrutiny will be whether the actual delivery has matched the original ambitious promises.
A key benchmark for MPs will be the recovery of the 18-week referral-to-treatment (RTT) standard outlined in the NHS Constitution. In January 2025, only around 59% of patients were being seen within 18 weeks, significantly below the 92% target. Ministers are expected to face intense questioning on the updated figures and the timeline for achieving this benchmark.
Adding complexity to elective recovery are significant emergency-care pressures. Late 2025 saw clinicians raising alarms about emergency department congestion and the 'normalisation' of corridor care, which is known to impede overall patient flow and worsen planned care delays. These systemic pressures are anticipated to feature heavily in the parliamentary discussion.
The role of digital infrastructure in managing waiting lists is also likely to be raised. A 2025 report by the Public Accounts Committee highlighted that poor NHS IT connectivity, with disparate systems across primary care, hospitals, and diagnostics, is undermining coordinated waiting-list management and hindering progress on treatment timelines.
Patient advocates, including Healthwatch England, will use the debate to press for action on health inequalities in waiting times. They argue that disadvantaged groups, such as ethnic minorities, disabled people, and those on low incomes, often experience the longest waits. Campaigners are urging the NHS to publish waiting list data segmented by demographic and socioeconomic factors to ensure these groups are central to reform efforts.
While the government is expected to highlight recent positive trends, such as a months-long fall in the waiting list total and record treatment volumes delivered by NHS staff, the debate will test whether this incremental progress provides meaningful relief for patients. Ministers will likely emphasise that measures, including expanded CDC hours, surgical hubs, and financial incentives for trusts, are part of a long-term recovery framework.
Reinforcing the scale of the challenge, health economics analyses suggest that even with significant effort, waiting lists could remain elevated for years without structural changes to workforce capacity, bed availability, and diagnostic throughput. This longer-term view, that reductions will be slow but possible, will inform how MPs interpret short-term statistics.
For patients and providers, the 6th January debate is a crucial event, transcending mere political theatre. It provides a platform to publicly confront the data on backlogs, clarify targets, establish accountability, and push for greater transparency in how progress is measured and reported. The outcomes of this discussion could influence policy priorities, funding decisions, and public trust in the NHS's ability to deliver timely care for the millions whose access to care is currently affected.
