The Government is investing £80m in expanding the scheme, which includes being prescribed medication, accessing blood tests or scans via a GP, or receiving care in a local women's health hub or community physio service, rather than being put on long NHS waiting lists.

Health minister Karin Smyth said: ‘By caring for patients closer to home, we save time and stop masses of people having to head to hospital for unnecessary appointments in the first place.

‘It will take time to reverse the damaging neglect the NHS has suffered in recent years, but our Plan for Change is starting to deliver benefits for patients, with waiting lists cut by 219,000 since July, and 1,500 new GPs in post.'

New data shows 660,000 treatments were diverted from hospitals and into the community thanks to the scheme between July and December 2024 – a 60,000 increase on the same period the previous year.

The Government aims to increase diversions from the elective waiting list to up to 2m by the end of 2025/26.

It has set out its ambition that 92% of patients will be waiting less than 18 weeks by the end of this Parliament and has delivered over 3m additional appointments since July 2024.

Beccy Baird, senior fellow at The King's Fund, said the initiative was a ‘welcome step' towards delivering more care closer to the community but cautioned: ‘Financial incentives for GPs based on the number of requests raised could undermine the primary goal of delivering high-quality care and the scheme must avoid introducing unnecessary steps into a patient's journey.'

Baird added: ‘To truly achieve the vision of shifting care from hospitals to the community, the Government must reallocate funding to strengthen out-of-hospital services and overhaul existing hospital-focused performance targets. This shift in focus from treating acute illnesses to promoting prevention is essential for the future of the NHS.'