Ambulance response times and A&E delays have lengthened, while the size of the overall waiting list for treatment has increased – though waits of more than a year have fallen.
Here are the main figures from the latest NHS performance data for England:
– Overall waiting list
The waiting list for routine hospital treatment has climbed to its highest level for 10 months.
An estimated 7.64 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of August, relating to 6.42 million patients.
This is up from 7.62 million treatments and 6.39 million patients at the end of July.
These are the highest figures since October 2023.
The list hit a record high in September 2023 with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.
The size of the list has been growing for much of the last 10 years, passing three million treatments in 2014, four million in 2017, five million in 2021 and seven million in 2022.
In February 2020, the last full month before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the list stood at 4.57 million treatments.
– Long waits for treatment
Some 3,335 patients had been waiting more than 18 months to start routine treatment at the end of August, up from 2,738 in July.
The previous government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April 2023, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.
There were 45,527 patients who had been waiting more than 65 weeks to start treatment at the end of August, down from 50,860 in July.
The target to eliminate all waits of more than 65 weeks was September 2024.
Meanwhile, 282,664 people had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of August, down from 290,326 at the end of July and the lowest number since December 2020.
The previous government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025.
– Accident & emergency waits
There were 38,880 people who had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E departments in September from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, up from 28,494 in August.
The record high for a calendar month is 54,573, which occurred in December 2022.
The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also rose, standing at 130,632 in September, up from 116,489 in August.
Some 74.2% of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, down from 76.3% in August.
The NHS recovery plan set a target of March this year for 76% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
A further target of 78% has been set for March 2025.
– Cancer referrals
A total of 75.5% of patients urgently referred for suspected cancer in August were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days.
This is down from 76.2% the previous month but is above the target of 75%.
It is the fourth month in a row this target has been exceeded.
The proportion of patients who had waited no longer than 62 days in August from an urgent suspected cancer referral or consultant upgrade to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 69.2%, up from 67.7% in July.
The target is 85%.
GPs in England made 253,841 urgent cancer referrals in August, down from 286,720 in July and also down year-on-year from 268,224 in August 2023.
– Cancer diagnostic waiting list
The number of patients waiting longer than 62 days since an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer was 18,751 in the week ending September 1 2024, up from 17,545 in the week ending August 4.
The figure stood at nearly 34,000 at the end of September 2022.
Most of the patients included in this total do not have cancer and are waiting for a diagnostic test, while nearly one in five do have cancer and are waiting for treatment.
The previous government and NHS England set the ambition of returning this figure to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023.
The average weekly figure for the pre-pandemic month of February 2020 (covering the four weeks to March 1) was 13,463.
– Ambulance response times
The average response time in September for ambulances dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was eight minutes and 25 seconds.
This is up from eight minutes and three seconds in August and is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.
Ambulances took an average of 36 minutes and two seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis.
This is up from 27 minutes and 25 seconds in August, while the target is 18 minutes.
Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged two hours, 12 minutes and 54 seconds in September, up from one hour, 30 minutes and 33 seconds in August.
– Delayed discharges
An average of 12,517 hospital beds per day last month were occupied by people ready to be discharged.
This is up from an average of 12,097 in August and is the highest figure since 12,772 in April this year.
On average, 44.3% of patients ready to leave hospital last month were actually discharged each day, down slightly from 44.7% in August.
– Diagnostic tests
More than 370,000 people had been waiting longer than six weeks for a key diagnostic test in August.
Some 373,126 patients, 23.9% of the total, were waiting longer than six weeks for one of 15 standard tests, including an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy.
The figure is up from 364,544 (22.4% of the total) in July, but lower than the equivalent figure for August 2023, which was 430,008 (27.5%).
The NHS elective recovery plan sets the ambition that 95% of patients needing a diagnostic test receive it within six weeks by March 2025.
