Improving A&E and ambulance waiting times are among the top priorities for the NHS in the year ahead, health officials have said.
Hospitals have also been ordered to focus on reducing the NHS waiting list.
Every year, health leaders in England publish national planning guidance for the health service which sets out key priorities for hospitals and community services.
Last year, 32 goals were set but this year the number will be reduced to give local NHS bodies more freedom to deliver care to patients.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Today we are publishing the NHS mandate which sets out that improving A&E and ambulance waiting times should be among the top priorities for trusts as we set the direction for the health service over the coming year.”
In a written ministerial statement, he added: “I am refocusing the NHS on making progress towards the 18-week standard.
“This year’s operational planning guidance puts these objectives into practice with fewer targets, giving local systems greater control and flexibility over how local funding is deployed to best meet the needs of the people they serve.”
He said the mandate will help patients “get timely access to a GP appointment” and to deliver Labour’s pledge of more dental appointments.
Targets on mental health are also expected when NHS England publishes the guidance on Thursday.
Mr Streeting added: “I am instructing the NHS to focus on the fundamentals and get back to basics. We are giving local leaders clear directions to prioritise cutting elective care waiting lists, improve A&E and ambulance wait times, improve access to GPs and urgent dental care, and solve the mental health crisis.”
Some organisations have expressed dismay over reports that specific priorities set out in 2024/25 guidance will not be repeated in 2025/26.
“Just because something isn’t written in planning guidance doesn’t mean it’s not important and it doesn’t mean the work won’t happen,” health chief Amanda Pritchard told MPs on Wednesday.
“We’re not going to stop caring about all these things or stop working on them, whether or not there is something explicit written in planning guidance.”
Mr Streeting also said that “2025-26 must be a year of financial reset for the NHS”.
“NHS providers are being asked to undertake a 1% reduction in cost base, while raising their productivity and efficiency by 4%,” he added.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s “plan for change” pledges that by July 2029, 92% of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for routine hospital treatment such as hip and knee replacements.
Separate NHS figures released earlier this month showed that the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England had fallen to its lowest level for 18 months, .
An estimated 7.48 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of November, relating to 6.28 million patients – down from 7.54 million treatments and 6.34 million patients at the end of October.
The latest figures also showed that 2,051 patients in England had been waiting more than 18 months to start routine treatment at the end of November and 16,904 patients had been waiting more than 65 weeks.
The 2024/25 planning guidance called for all waits over 65 weeks to be “eliminated” by September 2024, “except where patients choose to wait longer or in specific specialties”.
