NHS waiting list rises to 7.37 million treatments despite record summer activity

Those 7.37 million treatments relate to 6.24 million patients, up from 6.21 million in July, according to NHS figures. The list last stood higher in October 2025, at 7.40 million treatments. Long waits rose too: 113,339 people had waited more than a year for routine treatment, up from 111,379 a month earlier.

The increase came as NHS England reported a record 4.7 million planned treatments, procedures and appointments across June, July and August, more than in any previous summer. The queue still grew because referrals outpaced treatment. The Nuffield Trust's Bea Taylor said the balance between referrals and treatment over the past year shows "huge waves of patients are flowing onto waiting lists each month, making it difficult for the NHS to work fast enough to keep up."

The gap to the 18-week target

The government has pledged that 92% of patients in England will begin treatment within 18 weeks by the end of the current Parliament in 2029. Around 65% are treated within that timeframe, according to the latest figures. In March, 65.3% of patients waited no longer than 18 weeks and the list fell to 7.11 million, its lowest in three and a half years. By the end of August the list was back at 7.37 million.

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King's Fund, said the figures show why the government will soon have to make its expectations for the NHS clear. She said waiting lists had continued to rise, with more than 120,000 added since the start of the year through August. She warned that the previous administration's approach of using 'sprint funding' to cut waiting lists at speed was 'more akin to a sugar rush than the type of sustained recovery patients need.'

Winter pressure

Professor Frankie Swords, NHS national medical director, said staff had delivered record elective care this summer and were now supporting "the busiest September on record for A&E attendances and ambulance incidents." She said staff were already seeing the "ominous" early signs of pressure, with more patients coming to A&E with flu and other respiratory viruses than usual for this time of year. She urged eligible people to take up flu, RSV, Covid and other vaccinations before winter.

September's emergency data show 74.4% of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&E, down from 75.0% in August. The number waiting more than 12 hours from a decision to admit to actually being admitted rose to 50,582 from 44,951. An average of 3,310 patients a day received corridor care in September, up from 2,865 in August. Of those, 2,549 were in emergency departments and 761 in other hospital areas. NHS England put A&E attendances at 2.44 million in September, the busiest ever. The number waiting at least four hours from a decision to admit to admission rose to 129,199 from 118,550.

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said the NHS was dealing with summer pressures now as well as winter pressures. She said it was a tribute to staff that alongside "unprecedented levels of A&E attendances and ambulance callouts" they delivered record numbers of elective appointments, procedures and treatments. She said pressure is set to increase again as winter approaches and encouraged eligible people to get the flu jab and other vaccines.