Long Term Plan Headline Metrics

The Government’s 2021-22 mandate to NHS England and NHS Improvement sets out the headline commitments and the associated underpinning metrics which are being used to measure progress on implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan.

1: There will be 50,000 more nurses working in the NHS

  • Number of nurses in the NHS.

2: There will be 50 million more appointments in general practice a year

  • Number of additional appointments in general practice.

3: We will build 40 new hospitals

  • Number of new hospitals under construction.

4: NHS performance will improve over time, once impacts of the pandemic are factored in – bringing down operating waiting times and improving A&E performance

  • A&E performance.
  • Performance against 18-week Referral to Treatment waiting time standard.
  • Number of patients on the Referral to Treatment pathway who have been waiting for 52 weeks or more.
  • Referral to Treatment pathway waiting list size.
  • Public confidence in the NHS.

5: The NHS will continue to contribute towards levelling-up, through its work to tackle health inequalities

  • COVID-19 vaccination uptake for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups compared to the national average.
  • Difference in the percentage of respondents in the most deprived neighbourhoods reporting being seen in general practice at a time they wanted or sooner compared to those in the least deprived neighbourhoods.
  • Year on year reductions in the difference in the stillbirth and neonatal mortality rate per 1,000 births between that for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women and the national average.
  • Year on year reductions in the gap between the best and worst CCGs for all-cancer survival.

6: The NHS will continue to improve access to primary and community care

  • Number of doctors in general practice.
  • Number of primary care professionals in general practice.
  • Patient reported experience in general practice.
  • Number of personalised care interventions.
  • Number of social prescribing referrals.
  • Primary medical and community services real terms expenditure growth.
  • Roll out of 2-hour/2-day community rapid response.
  • Reducing reliance on specialist inpatient care for adults and children with Learning Disability and Autism.
  • Number of people with a Learning Disability on the GP register receiving an annual health check.

7: The NHS will continue to treat mental health with the same urgency as physical health

  • Number of people accessing Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.
  • Number of children and young people accessing NHS-funded mental health services.
  • Mental health services real terms expenditure growth.

8: The NHS will better embrace technology to improve patient experience

  • Percentage of general practices offering digital appointments.
  • Number of face-to-face outpatient appointments avoided through the outpatient transformation programme.
  • Proportion of the population registered to use the NHS App.
  • Number of whole genomes sequenced.
  • Proportion of A&E attendances that are unheralded.

9: The NHS will invest in prevention to improve health outcomes

  • Number of people supported via the NHS diabetes prevention programme – reflecting the NHS’s contribution to wider government action to reduce obesity prevalence.
  • Number of trusts delivering smoking cessation services – reflecting the NHS’s contribution to wider government action to reduce smoking prevalence.
  • Roll-out of alcohol care teams to hospitals with the highest rate of alcohol dependence-related admissions.
  • Population coverage of the two doses of MMR vaccine (at 5 years of age).
  • Number of people receiving flu vaccination.
  • Number of people receiving COVID-19 vaccination.

10: The NHS will continue to improve outcomes for major diseases and long-term conditions

  • Bowel screening coverage (for agreed age ranges, screened within the last 30 months).
  • Breast screening coverage (females aged 50-70, screened within the last 36 months).
  • Cervical screening coverage (females aged 25-64, attending screening within the target period).
  • Proportion of cancers diagnosed at stages 1 or 2.
  • Urgent two-week cancer referral performance – potentially (subject to Government agreement) to be replaced by the 28-day faster diagnosis standard during 2021-22.
  • Percentage of patients starting cancer treatment within 62 days of GP referral.
  • One year cancer survival.
  • Percentage of eligible patients accessing cardiac rehabilitation.
  • Percentage of patients receiving a thrombectomy following a stroke.

11: The NHS will accelerate action on reducing stillbirth, maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and serious brain injury

  • Number of stillbirths per 1,000 total births.
  • Number of neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births.
  • Number of serious brain injury cases per 1,000 live births.
  • Number of maternal mortalities per 100,000 maternities.

12: The NHS will continue to support its workforce

  • Proportion of providers and general practices with an outstanding or good rating from the CQC for the “well led” domain.
  • Proportion of staff who answer “Never” to “In the last 12 months how many times have you personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from a) managers; b) other colleagues; or c) patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public?”.
  • Proportion of staff in senior leadership roles who are a) from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background and b) women.
  • Staff engagement rate.
  • Proportion of staff who answer “Yes, definitely” to “Does your organisation take positive action on health and wellbeing?”.
  • Sickness absence rate.

13: The NHS will manage its finances to ensure overall financial balance in each and every year

  • A balanced overall NHS position.
  • Number of NHS organisations in financial balance.
  • Number of NHS systems in financial balance.
  • NHS productivity growth rate.