What the latest NHS performance figures for England show

A key target for cutting long waits for hospital treatment has been missed and A&E times have got longer, though the overall number of patients on the waiting list has 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 fallen to its lowest level for five months.

An estimated 7.57 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of September, relating to 6.34 million patients.

This is down from 7.64 million treatments and 6.42 million patients at the end of August.

These are the lowest figures since April 2024.

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 on an upwards trend 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.

Some 2,703 patients had been waiting more than 18 months to start routine treatment at the end of September, down from 3,335 in August.

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 22,903 patients who had been waiting more than 65 weeks to start treatment at the end of September, down from 45,527 in August.

The target to eliminate all waits of more than 65 weeks was September of this year.

Meanwhile, 249,343 people had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of September, down from 282,664 at the end of August 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.

There were 49,592 people who had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E departments in October from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, up from 38,880 in September and the third highest monthly figure since comparable records began in 2010.

The all-time 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 148,789 in October, up from 130,632 in September.

Some 73.0% of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, down from 74.2% in September.

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.

A total of 74.8% of patients urgently referred for suspected cancer in September were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days.

This is down from 75.5% the previous month and is below the target of 75%.

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 67.3%, down from 69.2% in August.

The target is 85%.

GPs in England made 256,996 urgent cancer referrals in September, up from 253,841 in August but down slightly year-on-year from 257,862 in September 2023.

The number of patients waiting longer than 62 days since an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer was 18,066 in the week ending September 29 2024, down from 18,751 in the week ending September 1.

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 October for ambulances dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was eight minutes and 38 seconds.

This is up from eight minutes and 25 seconds in September and is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.

Ambulances took an average of 42 minutes and 15 seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis.

This is up from 36 minutes and two seconds in September, 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, 41 minutes and 28 seconds in October, up from two hours, 12 minutes and 54 seconds in September.

– Delayed discharges

An average of 12,340 hospital beds per day last month were occupied by people ready to be discharged.

This is down from an average of 12,517 in September, but higher than 12,097 in August.

On average, 46% of patients ready to leave hospital last month were actually discharged each day, up from 44% in September.

More than 350,000 people had been waiting longer than six weeks for a key diagnostic test in September.

Some 359,888 patients, 22.7% 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 down from 373,126 (23.9% of the total) in August and also lower than the equivalent figure for September 2023, which was 415,863 (26.3%).

The NHS elective recovery plan sets an ambition of March 2025 for 95% of patients needing a diagnostic test to receive it within six weeks.