Steve Yemm column: Labour is getting NHS waiting lists down and Mansfield is seeing the results
This is what change looks like.
Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust (SFHT) has reached its strongest position on planned care since June 2025.
At the end of March 2026, 63.3 per cent of patients were being treated within the 18-week referral to treatment standard, with further improvement expected in April.
Even more significantly, there are now no patients waiting more than 65 weeks for treatment.
That is a major achievement for our local NHS and it is exactly the kind of progress Labour was elected to deliver.
For people in Mansfield, these figures matter because they mean patients being seen faster, the longest waits being eliminated, and more confidence that the NHS is moving in the right direction.
The trust has also confirmed that the total number of patients waiting to be seen across all pathways is now at its lowest level since before the pandemic in 2020.
That is not a small step forward - it is real, measurable progress.
I want to pay tribute to the staff across SFHT, at King’s Mill in Sutton, Mansfield Community Hospital, Newark Hospital and throughout the wider system.
Simon Illingworth, the trust’s chief operating officer, has rightly said that these results reflect the extraordinary hard work and commitment of teams across the health system.
He is right - this has taken clinical leadership, operational grip and relentless teamwork.
But it has also taken a clear national priority from the Government - get waiting lists down and get the NHS back on its feet.
Labour made a promise to the country that we would cut NHS waiting times.
Because waiting lists are not just numbers on a spreadsheet.
They are people waiting for hip operations, cataract treatment, scans, tests and procedures that can transform their quality of life.
They are people trying to get back to work, care for loved ones, or simply live without pain and uncertainty.
That is why this progress matters so much.
After years in which the NHS was left under huge pressure, Labour is bringing a different approach: investment, reform and a clear focus on delivery.