New data has shown that the NHS waiting list fell in May for the first time in 17 years, dropping by nearly 30,000 to 7.36 million. This is the lowest total since March 2023, with 60.9 per cent waiting 18 weeks or less for planned care (the highest proportion since July 2022).
In May, NHS staff carried out 75,009 planned treatments each day, on average, which is the highest number on record, and totals 1.5 million treatments across the whole month. This is an increase from 1.45 million in April and higher than the pre-pandemic May 2019 (1,437,914).
This makes May the busiest year ever for the number of tests and checks (2.5 million), up 23 per cent on pre-pandemic (1,996,365 in May 2019), largely thanks to community diagnostic centres seeing people closer to their homes.
June was the busiest month ever for A&Es, with average daily attendances of over 78,300; during this time, 14 days were covered by heat health alerts. This June saw the highest proportion of patients seen within four hours since August 2024 (75.5 per cent), making it the best June performance since 2021.
Ambulances services also faced the busiest June since 2021 with 759,635 incidents, yet teams reached patients with category one response times 26 seconds quicker on average than June 2024, and reached category two response five minutes faster than last year, too.
Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS England’s co-national medical director (secondary care), said: “Today’s figures show the hard work of all NHS staff with the overall waiting list dropping to its lowest since March 2023, with a reduction in May delivered for the first time in many years.
“Across the NHS, our staff are showing their determination to improve access to services and bring down waits for treatment, whether it’s more evening and weekend appointments or people getting tested and checked closer to home at community diagnostic centres.
“This continued recovery has been a national effort across the health service and it would—of course—be hugely disappointing if this progress were to stall this summer due to industrial action.
“We are still seeing huge demand across NHS services, with a record June for A&E attendances and rising demand for ambulances, but despite this, patients are being seen quicker. With another heatwave on the way in the coming days, I would urge the pubic to take care and follow advice for keeping safe during hot weather.”
