Faster Access to Musculoskeletal Treatment Under NHS Plan

Key Summary

• The Government invested £3.2 million to expand NHS programme that cuts musculoskeletal waiting lists by 20 per cent.

• The Getting It Right First Time MSK Community Delivery Programme had finished a successful pilot run.

• Initiatives will be planned to help patients find jobs.

NHS England is investing £3.2 million on single visit clinics to cut musculoskeletal (MSK) waiting lists by 20 per cent.

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme had finished a successful pilot run by cutting 18-week waiting lists by 20 per cent across 17 areas between December 2024 and March 2025.

The NHS will establish “MSK community appointment days” – innovative, one-day clinics that bring clinical care, mental health support, and physical activity services into a single visit.

It will also fund ‘super clinics’ designed to rapidly boost clinical capacity, offering targeted, one-to-one diagnostic testing and fast-tracked treatments.

The initiative explicitly weaves employment advice and health support into standard care, directly addressing a leading cause of health-related economic inactivity in the UK.

Musculoskeletal conditions affect an estimated 17 to 18 million people in England, accounting for over 100,000 people currently signed off work and half a million who report being economically inactive due to health issues.

The focus will be regions facing the steepest backlogs to eliminate the current “postcode lottery” of localized care.

Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Sharon Hodgson, said: “Patients are suffering, and so is the economy, which is why this government is taking a new approach to cutting waiting lists while supporting patients back into employment.”