Stephen Morgan MP has thanked NHS staff in Portsmouth for their hard work in continuing to get waiting lists down, as the Labour government marked a year since the publication of its Elective Reform Plan designed to cut waits.
Across England, the NHS saw the waiting list fall by more than 86,000 in November to 7.31 million, as new data today shows staff faced record demand in 2025.
The progress came despite the NHS’s busiest ever year, with 27.8 million A&E attendances in 2025 – over 367,000 up on 2024, with 2.33 million attendances in December alone.
At Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, waiting lists have fallen by 6,055 since the election.
In the year since the Elective Reform Plan was launched, Labour have brought in record investment and real modernisation to cut waiting lists – including creating more evening and weekend clinics, new and expanded community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs, crack teams of experts being sent to 20 hospital trusts across England with the highest levels of economic inactivity, and cutting unnecessary appointments by sending patients “straight to test” rather than multiple clinic visits.
However, Mr Morgan warned that winter pressures continue to persist as hospitals battle the flu, and urged anyone eligible in Portsmouth that it’s not too late to take up the flu vaccine to protect themselves and others.
Commenting, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“NHS staff in Portsmouth have worked incredibly hard to shrink down the waiting list while seeing a record surge in patients last year.
“Thanks to the Government’s Elective Reform Plan, our record investment and modernisation, over 6,000 more patients got a faster diagnosis in Portsmouth and received quicker treatment or the all-clear since the election.
“This is despite services facing consistently high levels of pressure and experiencing another record year for A&E and ambulances.
“It will be a long road, but Labour is fixing our health service in Portsmouth and making it fit for the future and beyond”.
