Welsh and Scottish patients who are waiting for treatment on lengthy NHS lists could request care on the health service in England, Steve Barclay has said.
The health secretary invited ministers from the devolved administrations to discuss different approaches taken to address the record backlogs.
The Department of Health and Social Care said there were “significant variations” in NHS waiting times between the four UK nations. Barclay even suggested Wales and Scotland had worse NHS delays than England in some areas, which both devolved administrations robustly disputed.
“In Wales, more than 73,000 people are waiting over 77 weeks for treatment, and at least 21,600 people are waiting over 78 weeks for an outpatient, day case or inpatient appointment in Scotland,” the DHSC said in a statement.
“In England, waiting times for patients over 78 weeks have been virtually eliminated.”
On Thursday, new figures revealed a record 7.6 million people in England were waiting for NHS treatment in June, with two in five patients waiting more than 18 weeks to be seen.
Nearly 400,000 people were waiting for treatment for heart conditions, the British Heart Foundation said, of whom 37% had been waiting more than 18 weeks for care and a record 12,799 had been waiting more than a year for time-critical heart treatments.
In his letter to the devolved administrations, Barclay said he would be “open to requests” to allow patients in Wales and Scotland who are waiting for lengthy periods to choose to be treated at providers in England’s NHS or the independent sector – building on the current arrangements for cross-border healthcare.
Rishi Sunak has made cutting waiting lists one of five key priorities for his leadership after they hit a record 7.57 million people in hospitals in England alone in June.
The issue could become a key political battleground at the next election, so the government is keen to argue health services would not be better managed under Labour or the SNP.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “Wales includes more referrals in its waiting times statistics than England does. Long waiting times are falling every month in Wales and have more than halved in the past year.
“The overall growth in waiting lists has been smaller in Wales than in England over the last 12 months – it grew by 3.6% in Wales and by 12.1% in England. Wales has also outperformed England in major emergency department performance in nine out of the last 10 months.
“In Wales patients are treated according to clinical urgency.”
The shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, told Sky News on Sunday that Barclay was “the last person anyone needs a lecture from” on how to run the NHS.
She accused the UK government of creating a “total shambles” in the NHS and said devolved governments were restricted in what they could do by budgets determined in Westminster.
The Scottish health minister, Michael Matheson, said: “The NHS in England is about to experience its fifth round of strikes by junior doctors, with the waiting list for hospital treatment rising by over 100,000 to a record high of over 7.5 million as a result of the UK government’s refusal to even get around the negotiating table.
“Rather than attempting to involve themselves in devolved areas, the UK government would be well served focusing on tackling the many issues in the health service south of the border.
“In contrast, the Scottish government has negotiated constructively and made significant commitments to our junior doctors – which is why we are the only part of the UK to have avoided strike action in our NHS this year.”
