It comes alongside efforts to radically overhaul the system of hospital appointments, with patients put in direct contact with medical teams, so they can ask questions and request checks, instead of automatically being assigned follow-up consultations.

Sir Jim Mackey, a hospital chief executive, who has been appointed to advise NHS England on tackling the backlog, said such initiatives would “give the power back to the patient”.

The changes are set to replace the current systems of NHS “e-referral”, which are supposed to offer such a choice, but do not provide patients with basic information – such as the length of wait they are currently facing.

Sir Jim, who is the chief executive of the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said it was “fundamentally wrong” that patients are given so little information after being referred to hospital – including how long they will have to wait.

“There is no interaction that gives them confidence of where they are in the queue and what’s going to happen next,” he told a recent seminar.

It follows the appointment of a former banker as chairman of the NHS, with plans for a “radical shake up” of the way services are run. He will take up the post next month.

Officials said Richard Meddings, a former chairman of TSB who also held a role on the board of the Treasury, has “led reform and change at the highest levels”.