The promise, originally set out in the NHS long-term plan in 2019, was supposed to be introduced in April 2020, but was delayed by the pandemic.
On Monday, Mr Johnson said he hoped to fulfil the pledge by March 2023. He also said that, from March of next year, nobody should have to wait more than two months for cancer treatment.
NHS guidance published in December promises to return the number of people waiting for longer than 62 days to the level seen in February 2020, before the pandemic.
The Health Secretary said on Monday that there was no “argument” with the Treasury, adding: “We have got a plan, it is being finalised right now, it will be published very soon.”
He told the Today programme: “There has been a very active discussion within both the NHS, within my department, to collectively agree an elective recovery plan. I think it is vital that it is focused on clinical need.
“We will have some kinds of targets in the new elective recovery plan. Those targets have to be based on clinical need and something that we believe, across government, can be delivered.”
Unrealistic targets
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, who previously advised Tony Blair, said the hold-up was “frustrating”.
But he said there was a danger of setting unrealistic targets “which risk skewing clinical priorities”.
He added: “We must be careful that, in setting targets, we don’t deprioritise those that need treatment most urgently to instead treat those that have been waiting the longest – something which is not always one and the same thing.”
Asked about the impact of heightened tension between No 10 and the Treasury, he said: “I think, when any Government is in political difficulties, it means that these kinds of policy choices get politicised in ways that are unhelpful.
“There is a difficult decision to be made about precisely what level of target you should apply to money going into the health service, and that needs to be made as far as possible on rational, objective grounds.”
