The number of people waiting to start NHS treatment in England fell to 7.10 million people in March 2026, down from 7.22 million in the previous month, according to official data.
It means NHS England has hit its interim target for 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18-weeks for elective treatment, however this remains below the long-term 92% standard.
This marked the fifth consecutive month with a fall in the number of referral to treatment (RTT) pathways, where a patient was waiting to start treatment.
Some patients are on multiple pathways, the number of unique patients is estimated to be around 6.0 million, down from 6.1 million in February.
Of the 7.1 million, in 94,406 cases the patient was waiting more than one year, in 1,047 cases they were waiting more than 18 months, and in 154 cases they were waiting more than two years.
During March 2026, 1,953,170 new RTT pathways were started and 323,687 pathways completed as a result of admitted treatment and 1,387,720 were completed in other ways (non-admitted).
For those pathways where the patient was waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2026, the median waiting time was 11.3 weeks. The 92nd percentile waiting time was 38.3 weeks.
Falling short
For Tim Gardner, deputy director of Policy at the Health Foundation, while the NHS has made significant progress towards improving access to planned hospital care, meeting its national elective care target, it is still falling short of several other recovery targets for cancer and elective waits set for March 2026.
‘“In March, the waiting list for routine hospital treatment fell to the lowest level since August 2022,” Gardner said.
“Having peaked at 8.8% in the wake of the pandemic, the percentage of waits longer than 52 weeks has fallen to the lowest level since June 2020 and just shy of the 1% target. While the government’s interim target that at least 65% of patients should start treatment within 18 weeks or less was met nationally, just over 4 in 10 acute NHS trusts did not achieve the required improvements and further targeted support will be needed to ensure an equitable recovery.
“The reduction in patients waiting for routine hospital treatment is welcome progress and reflects the extraordinary effort of NHS staff, particularly over a tough winter. But the real test will be whether this progress can be sustained and built on in the months ahead.
“The focus on making progress on hospital waiting times needs to be balanced against the need to deliver the wider improvements promised in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan. However, with a new NHS Modernisation Bill announced yesterday, the time and resources that could have been devoted to improving patient care are set to be diverted into managing another major reorganisation.”
Significant achievement
But Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund, welcomed the service’s meeting of its interim 18-week target.
“This is a significant achievement and a tribute to the hard work of NHS staff who have had to weather the headwinds of industrial action, increasing demand and the biggest reorganisation of the health service in over a decade,” Woolnough said.
“Especially given this context, the health service’s leadership are rightly proud of what NHS staff have achieved for patients and the public.
“For patients and their loved ones, it means fewer long waits for treatment and some relief from the anxiety extended delays cause.
“The government has funnelled £120m in extra ‘sprint funding’ into NHS trusts since January alone, to focus them on the elective waits target in a race to meet the March deadline. This is significant progress, but it may prove to be progress bought at a high price.
“This amount of additional funding will be hard to sustain in the current economic climate. It brings into question whether reaching the eventual 92% target by rinsing and repeating this sequence of ‘elective sprints’ is financially feasible or manageable for already stretched NHS staff.
“And this is nowhere near the end of the road. To give a sense of the scale of the challenge facing the government to hit 92% – since they came into office, there are now 460,000 fewer waits of over 18-weeks. If the waiting list were to stay the same, an extra 1.9 million waits would need to be seen within 18-weeks to meet the government’s eventual 2029 target. Ministers can celebrate today’s milestone, but they cannot sprint their way to a lasting solution.
“The opportunity costs of the government’s approach must also be considered. Several other waiting lists continue to grow, and the priority given to meeting the elective target means less focus on preventing disease, with the promised health mission to kickstart a prevention revolution falling largely by the wayside.
“Breaking free of this narrow definition of health as a waiting list target requires some political bravery but may ultimately deliver better outcomes for people. The answer to improving the nation’s health does not always lie within an operating theatre.”
