Key Performance Indicators
Charts
Referral to Treatment (RTT) Waiting Times
The elective backlog is the defining NHS story of the decade: how many people are waiting for planned hospital care, and how long. These four charts track the total list, where it's concentrated, and the two waits that matter most politically - over 18 weeks and over a year.
NHS Waiting List
The NHS waiting list in England stood at 7.33 million pathways in July 2026, up from 7.27 million in June but down from the record 7.77 million of September 2023. Around 6.21 million individual patients were waiting, since one person can sit on the list more than once. NHS England publishes no figure for February 2024, so the chart has a gap there.
NHS Waiting List by Specialty
The waiting list by specialty in July 2026. Trauma and orthopaedics, which covers operations such as hip and knee replacements, has the longest queue at 841,000 pathways, followed by eye care, ear, nose and throat, and gynaecology. A further 1.5 million pathways sit in broad 'other' groupings not shown here.
Patients Waiting Over 18 Weeks
In July 2026, 34.6% of pathways had been waiting more than 18 weeks. The NHS Constitution standard is that no more than 8% should be (92% within 18 weeks). It was last met in September 2015, when the figure was 7.7%, or in February 2016 on figures that leave out estimates for trusts that did not report. It peaked at 52.7% in July 2020.
Patients Waiting Over 52 Weeks
In July 2026, 111,000 pathways had been waiting more than a year, down from a post-pandemic peak of 436,000 in March 2021. The number fell to 94,000 in March 2026, the lowest since July 2020, but has risen every month since.
A&E & Emergency Care
Emergency care is where NHS pressure becomes visible first. Rising attendances meeting constrained capacity produce the four-hour breaches, corridor care and winter crises that dominate health coverage.
A&E Seen Within 4 Hours
75.0% of A&E patients were seen within four hours in August 2026, against the 95% standard, which was last met in July 2015. Performance bottomed out at 65.2% in December 2022 and has recovered slowly since.
Total A&E Attendances
A&E attendances in England reached 27.8 million in 2025, consistently more than two million a month.
GP Appointments
General practice handles the overwhelming majority of NHS contacts, and how easily people can see a GP shapes public perception of the whole service - as well as demand everywhere else in the system.
Monthly GP Appointments
GP practices in England recorded 33.9 million appointments in July 2026, and an average of 31.3 million a month since January 2024. October is the busiest month of the year.
Ambulance Response Times
Ambulance response standards are among the most safety-critical in the NHS: for cardiac arrests and strokes, minutes translate directly into survival and recovery odds.
Life-threatening Response Time
The average Category 1 ambulance response, for life-threatening emergencies, was 7 minutes 56 seconds in August 2026, against a 7-minute target. The target was last met in April 2021.
Emergency Response Time
The average Category 2 ambulance response, for emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks, was 28 minutes 52 seconds in August 2026, against an 18-minute target last met in July 2020. It peaked at 1 hour 33 minutes in December 2022.
Cancer Waiting Times
Faster diagnosis and treatment measurably improve cancer survival, which is why the referral-to-treatment standards below carry more clinical weight than almost any other NHS target.
Cancer Treatment Within 62 Days
In July 2026, 71.2% of cancer patients started treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, against the 85% standard. The series starts in April 2022, the earliest month NHS England publishes on the combined 62-day standard introduced in October 2023.
About this data
All figures come from NHS England's official monthly statistics - referral-to-treatment waiting times, A&E activity, ambulance quality indicators, cancer waiting times and GP appointments - and cover England only, since Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run and report their health services separately. A&E and ambulance figures are published about ten days after the month they cover, waiting list and cancer figures about six weeks after, and all can be revised later.
NHS performance is strongly seasonal: winter reliably brings worse A&E and ambulance figures, and holiday months dent GP appointment volumes. Comparing the same month across years is almost always more informative than comparing consecutive months.
Frequently asked questions
How many people are on the NHS waiting list?
Around 6.2 million people are waiting for planned hospital treatment in England, on 7.33 million pathways as at July 2026, down from the record 7.77 million pathways of September 2023.
Has the NHS met its A&E four-hour target?
No. The 95% four-hour A&E target was last met in July 2015. A quarter of A&E patients now wait longer than four hours.
What is the NHS cancer waiting time target?
The target is for 85% of cancer patients to start treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral. It has not been met at any point since this series began in April 2022, and in July 2026 nearly three in ten patients waited longer.
What is the NHS 18-week target?
The NHS Constitution says patients referred for consultant-led, non-urgent treatment in England should start that treatment within 18 weeks of referral. The percentage of the waiting list within 18 weeks is the headline measure of elective care performance.
What actually counts as the NHS waiting list?
The headline figure counts incomplete referral-to-treatment pathways in England, not individual people. One person can be on the list more than once if they have been referred for more than one condition, so the number of patients waiting is somewhat lower than the number of pathways.
What are the ambulance response categories?
Category 1 is for life-threatening emergencies, with a 7-minute average response target. Category 2 covers serious emergencies such as strokes, with an 18-minute average target. Categories 3 and 4 cover urgent and less urgent calls with longer standards.
Why is the four-hour A&E target important?
The four-hour standard measures the time from arrival at A&E to admission, transfer or discharge. It is treated as a barometer of the whole urgent-care system, because problems elsewhere - full hospital beds, delayed discharges, pressure on GPs - all tend to surface as longer A&E waits.
Where does the NHS data on this page come from?
All figures are drawn from NHS England's official monthly statistical publications, covering referral-to-treatment waiting times, A&E attendances, ambulance quality indicators, cancer waiting times and GP appointments. The page is updated after each monthly release.