NHS waiting list for routine hospital treatment rises for second month

The NHS waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has risen for the second consecutive month. Official figures show that the number of patient pathways reached 7.40 million by the end of July, an increase from 7.37 million at the end of June. This total relates to approximately 6.25 million individual patients, a rise from the 6.23 million recorded the previous month. While the NHS has maintained activity levels, delivering 3% more planned treatments compared to the same period in the previous year, the volume of patients joining the waiting list also grew by 5% over the same timeframe.

The latest data indicates that 61.3% of routine treatments were delivered within 18 weeks in July. This remains below the government's long-term objectives. Specifically, the health service is working toward a target to treat 65% of patients within 18 weeks by March 2026. The number of patients enduring particularly long waits has also climbed. By the end of July, 1,429 patients had been waiting more than 18 months for routine care, up from 1,103 in June. Similarly, the number of people waiting more than 65 weeks rose to 11,950 from 10,517 the previous month.

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Health officials have identified multiple pressures influencing these figures, including a high volume of new patient referrals and the impact of a five-day strike by resident doctors throughout July. NHS England noted that approximately 50,000 appointments were cancelled during this industrial action. Despite these challenges, the service reported a record number of cancer treatment starts in July, with 69.2% of patients beginning their first treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, an improvement from 67.1% in June.

Professional bodies, including the Royal College of Surgeons of England, have raised concerns regarding the state of hospital infrastructure. Prof Frank Smith, vice president of the organisation, pointed to the physical limitations of current facilities as a primary driver of delays.

"Crumbling hospital buildings are leading surgeons to have to compete for space, directly contributing to delays and leaving patients waiting for the care they need."

Prof Frank Smith, Vice President, Royal College of Surgeons of England, via BBC

The Royal College of Surgeons of England has urged the government to commit significant capital funding for the construction of new operating theatres in the upcoming Autumn Budget. Similarly, Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, emphasized that current staff are under extreme pressure, noting that the health service is "running to stand still" as it manages record levels of A&E attendance, which saw its busiest August on record.

In response to the figures, Health Secretary Wes Streeting stated that the administration has delivered millions of extra appointments since entering office. The government's 10-year health plan intends to address these systemic issues by shifting care away from traditional hospital settings and into local communities. This includes the establishment of neighbourhood health centres, with initial focus areas being regions with the lowest healthy life expectancy, such as coastal towns and deindustrialised cities.

For the first time, the NHS has published a breakdown of waiting list data by ethnicity, age, sex, and deprivation levels. These figures highlight significant disparities, revealing that patients from the poorest communities and those from Asian or Asian British backgrounds are statistically more likely to experience waits exceeding 18 weeks. NHS leaders intend for this transparency to allow local trusts to implement targeted interventions. Examples of such measures include pre-surgery health coaching, as piloted by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, or transport support for families, which Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust utilised to reduce missed appointments.

Looking ahead, the NHS faces a series of critical performance milestones. By March 2026, the service is expected to reduce the number of patients waiting over 52 weeks to less than 1% of the total list. Currently, about 2.6% of those on the list have been waiting longer than 52 weeks. Additionally, the government aims for 78% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, discharged, or transferred within four hours by March 2026, a target that remains under pressure as wait times in emergency departments have faced recent volatility.