The NHS waiting list has fallen in last 12 months under Labour for the first in 15 years – but patient demand means the service is at its busiest ever going into winter
The NHS waiting list is falling again with Health Secretary Wes Streeting saying the health service is “now on the road to recovery”.
The backlog in England in September was 7.39 million appointments, for 6.24 million patients. This was down 15,845 appointments compared to the previous month and 230,000 fewer than July 2024. The waiting list for planned treatment rose in June, July and August.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The past year is the first time in 15 years that waiting lists have fallen. There’s a long way to go, but the NHS is now on the road to recovery.”
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Figures released today also show the NHS is the busiest it has ever been heading into winter, ahead of industrial action by doctors and an expected spike in flu cases in the coming weeks. The NHS waiting list in England stood at 7.6 million when Labour came to power in 2024 after rising steadily from 2.5 million since 2010 when the Tories took office.
NHS England said A&E attendances and ambulance incidents were both a record for the month of October. It also said 14.4 million flu vaccines have been delivered so far this autumn (14,419,345) – some 160,000 more than at the same point last year (14,253,063).
It comes as thousands of resident doctors across England are preparing to strike for five days from 7am on Friday. Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS national medical director, said: “It is fantastic news that the health service managed to get the waiting list down in September, but there’s no doubt NHS staff will be approaching their limits this winter.
“Flu is peaking early and looking like it will be long lasting, while industrial action starting on Friday comes on the back of the busiest October in A&E in NHS history. Staff continue to work incredibly hard and, as ever, the public can play their part by getting flu, Covid, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) jabs if eligible.
“People should also use NHS 111 for non-urgent help, and call 999 or visit A&E for life-threatening emergencies – including during upcoming industrial action.”
The data on Thursday also shows 180,329 people in England had been waiting more than a year to start routine hospital treatment at the end of September, down from 190,549 at the end of August. Some 2.4% of people on the list for hospital treatment had been waiting more than 52 weeks in September, down from 2.6% the previous month.
The Government and NHS England have set a target of March 2026 for this figure to be reduced to less than 1%. Figures also show 1,489 patients in England are estimated to have been waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment at the end of September, up slightly from 1,418 in August. A year earlier, in September 2024, the number stood at 2,701.
Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation, said the waiting list figures “present a challenging outlook for the NHS, particularly as it heads into what NHS leaders have warned is likely to be one of the toughest winters the health service has faced”. He added: “Urgent and emergency care continues to face considerable pressure, with over 54,000 patients waiting over 12 hours in emergency departments for a bed in October, nearly 10% more than the same month last year.
“While figures for September show a slight decrease in the elective waiting list to 7.39 million, and a welcome reduction in waiting times, restoring the 18-week standard by the end of this parliament remains a tall order.” He said an “urgent resolution” to the doctors’ strike is also vital.
Both of the main measures of cancer treatment slipped further behind target in September. Some 73.9% of patients urgently referred for suspected cancer were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days, down from 74.6% in August and below the current target of 75%.
The Government and NHS England have set an additional target of March 2026 for this figure to reach 80%. The proportion of patients who had waited no longer than 62 days in September from an urgent suspected cancer referral, or consultant upgrade, to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 67.9%, down from 69.1% in August. The Government and NHS England have set a target of March 2026 for this figure to reach 75%.
Meanwhile, the number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, so-called “corridor care”, stood at 54,314 in October, up from 44,765 in September. The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also rose, standing at 142,734 in October, up from 129,004 in September.
Mr Streeting added: “Thanks to the investment and modernisation this Government has made, waiting lists are falling and patients are being treated sooner. We are cutting waste to reinvest billions over the coming years in frontline care – less unnecessary bureaucracy and more services for patients. And at the Budget the Chancellor is protecting investment in the NHS, to rebuild after more than a decade of decline.”