Plans to reduce NHS backlog are ‘ambitious but realistic’, says minister

A government health minister has argued today that plans to tackle the growing NHS backlog are “ambitious but realistic”.

Edward Argar sparred with Sky News; interviewer when quizzed over whether  one in 10 British people were waiting for a routine appointment.

“It’s around one in nine…” he clarified, going on: That’s a huge figure and every one of those people will understandably be concerned. They’ll either be in pain or understandably anxious.

“We’ve got to be realistic and honest with people about the scale of that challenge and the impact that will have both on workload and on workforce so what we’ve set is what we think is ambitious but realistic as a way to bring that waiting list,” he claimed.

Argar reiterated health secretary Sajid Javid’s previous remarks that waiting list figures  “will go up before it goes down”.