An estimated 56,000 people were added to NHS waiting lists in England during July.
According to official data, the number of referral to treatment (RTT) pathways where a patient was waiting to start treatment rose to 7.33 million – 56,000 more people than the previous month (7.27 million), and down 62,000 from July 2025 (7.39 million).
Among the 7.3 million, in 111,379 cases the patient was waiting more than 52 weeks. In 9,095 cases they were waiting more than 65 weeks. In 1,494 cases they were waiting more than 78 weeks, and in 235 cases they were waiting more than 104 weeks.
There was no change in the number of unique patients, which is estimated to be around 6.2 million.
In 65.4% of cases the patient had been waiting up to 18 weeks, so not meeting the 92% standard.
In July 2026, 1,985,434 new RTT pathways were started and 328,929 pathways were completed as a result of admitted treatment and 1,322,549 were completed in other ways (non-admitted).
For those pathways where the patient was waiting to start treatment at the end of July 2026, the median waiting time was 12 weeks. The 92nd percentile waiting time was 38.4 weeks.
Feeling the heat
Tim Gardner, deputy director of policy at the Health Foundation, said the figures underline the scale of the pressures on the NHS, with the extreme heat over the summer only adding to the demands on health services.
“The latest urgent and emergency care data for August show little meaningful improvement. Ambulance response times decreased slightly and A&E waiting times remained stubbornly high,” Gardner said.
‘While NHS waiting lists often rise at this time of year, the lack of sustained progress towards ending hospital backlogs is concerning. The overall waiting list for routine hospital treatment increased to 7.33 million in July, and the percentage of waits within 18 weeks decreased slightly to 65.4%.”
Short-term fixes
But Gardner added that the figures also serve as another reminder that short-term fixes will not be enough.
“The NAO’s recent report highlighted that delays in urgent and emergency care are often the result of deep-rooted pressures across the wider health and social care system,” he continued.
“As the NHS looks ahead to autumn and braces for what could be another difficult winter, a system-wide and sustainable approach to improvement is essential. This must include strengthening operational management and capital investment, and boosting the capacity of community-based services outside of hospitals, all underpinned by a robust and credible workforce plan.”
Effectively stuck
Brett Hill, head of health and protection at Broadstone, said the figures show the NHS waiting list for elective care remains effectively stuck at over 7.2 million, with the number of people waiting for treatment growing again to reach its highest level in nine months.
“At the same time, the backlog of those waiting for essential diagnostic tests – the waiting list to get on the waiting list – has grown by almost 10% over the past year, while the number of people starting cancer treatment within the operational standard remains well below the government’s target,” Hill continued.
“Despite increased funding and the end of resident doctor’s industrial action, meaningful progress in improving NHS performance remains a distant prospect.
“The longer people wait for a diagnosis, the longer they may be waiting to access treatment, increasing the risk of health issues developing into more serious or chronic conditions, and forcing many to take time off work, or even leave the workforce altogether.”
Traditional model no longer working
Hill further maintained that the UK’s traditional healthcare model is clearly no longer working, and a new partnership between the public and private sector is required.
“The findings of the Keep Britain Working review are a welcome first step, but the government needs to put concrete incentives in place to encourage employers to commit to long-term investment in the health of the UK’s workforce,” he continued.
“In the meantime, forward thinking employers across the UK are deploying innovative preventative healthcare and ill health early intervention strategies to try and tackle the productivity challenge of an ailing workforce. Expanding access and coverage of PMI, health cash plans, regular health screenings and private GP services are all helping to catch health issues early and speed up recovery before health risks and acute illnesses turn into chronic disease. We expect businesses to continue to expand access to the private healthcare market through innovative health and wellbeing schemes to tackle this growing health crisis.”
Considerable task
Karen Woodley, head of healthcare distribution at The Exeter, said reducing NHS waiting times remains a considerable task.
“NHS staff continue to work hard to tackle the elective care backlog, but many people are still waiting longer than the 18-week standard for treatment,” Woodley said.
“Data from our Google trends analysis showed a 150% increase in search interest in private medical insurance over the past year, which shows more people appear to be considering the different options available to them when it comes to accessing care. For those facing a lengthy wait, having greater choice over where and when they receive treatment can provide reassurance.
“Continued collaboration between the NHS and private sector can help make the most of available capacity, supporting efforts to reduce waiting times and giving patients greater certainty over when they can expect to receive treatment.”
Quicker treatment is a priority
David Hare, CEO of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said getting patients treated more quickly is consistently one of the public’s top priorities, with new polling showing almost eight in 10 people (78%) say that meeting the NHS’ 18-week target by the end of this Parliament should be the government’s top priority for the NHS, with 40% saying they would be more likely to vote for a different party if this target is not met.
“It’s therefore vital that the NHS urgently picks up the pace on elective recovery and makes use of all available capacity across both the NHS and independent sector to ensure as many patients as possible can be treated,” Hare continued.
“Last year independent providers removed more than 1.6 million people from the NHS waiting list – and now deliver one in four of all NHS-funded diagnostic tests – and are committed to supporting the NHS even further to clear the backlog and ensure patients can get back to leading the healthy, productive lives they deserve.”
Twin crisis
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said the NHS is now facing a twin crisis with summer joining winter as a major pressure on services and leaving little room for staff and the system to recover between peak periods.
“One major factor is climate change,” she continued. “As its effects become more pronounced and record-breaking heatwaves become more frequent, the impacts on people’s health and our health system are becoming more obvious.
‘Hospital buildings have been found wanting in the face of higher temperatures. We have seen reports of operating theatres having to close due to overheating and malfunctioning equipment, pushing back much needed procedures, backing up waiting lists and causing prolonged discomfort for patients. At the same time hospitals are struggling to meet their ongoing targets to get down waiting lists – last month [July] the waiting list increased by 56,000.
‘Demand is surging to record levels with A&E attendances in the summer months now surpassing those seen in winter in each of the past three years. Today’s figures put total A&E attendances for this year’s summer at a record level of 7.3 million, 7.5% higher than last winter. The increased demand alongside an NHS estate that is struggling to cope with higher temperatures limits the health service’s capacity to deal with additional patients coming through its doors, stretching staff and systems further and risking worse outcomes for patients.
‘Our NHS hospitals were not designed for this weather, and in the Victorian-era buildings which make up a significant proportion of the NHS estate it is not uncommon to see sticking plaster fixes, such as portable air cons or patients needing to be moved around a hospital while renovations to cool wards are put in place.”
Summer crisis
Woolnough added that the realities of this new ‘summer crisis’ have been recognised by the government with the secretary of state for health and social care confirming this week that the NHS will have to begin preparing for summer as it does for winter.
“This approach, along with the investment being made to upgrade and renovate the NHS estate to cope with future heat waves, should be welcomed,” she continued. “But this highlights a stark reality that this cannot be tackled solely by the NHS; heat-proofing our health requires more fundamental changes.
“It will take a cross-government approach of tackling and adapting to climate change to protect people from its worst impacts alongside action to keep people healthy and prevent them from needing the health service in the first place when confronted with potentially dangerously high temperatures.
“Extreme heat is now an NHS pressure point, not just a weather story. If ministers want to protect patients, staff and performance, they need to treat climate resilience and deliver a radical shift to prevention as core health policy.”
