The number of people waiting for NHS treatment in England rose by 18,751 people in March 2025, the first increase since August last year.
The latest data from NHS England showed 7,420,899 people were on the waiting list in March, up from 7,402,148 people in February.
The number of referral to treatment (RTT) pathways where a patient was waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2025 was 7.42 million
Some patients are on multiple pathways and the number of unique patients continues to be estimated to be around 6.2 million people.
Of the 7.42 million, in 180,242 cases the patient was waiting for more than 52 weeks, in 7,381 cases they were waiting more than 65 weeks, in 1,164 cases they were waiting more than78 weeks, and in 147 cases they were waiting more than 104 weeks.
In 59.8% of cases the patient had been waiting up to 18 weeks, meaning the 92% standard had not been met.
During March 2025, 1,798,503 new RTT pathways were started and 327,477 pathways were completed as a result of admitted treatment and 1,207,339 were completed in other ways (non-admitted).
For those pathways where the patient was waiting to start treatment at the end of March 2025, the median waiting time was 13.8 weeks and the 92nd percentile waiting time was 41.9 weeks.
Years of under-investment in public health
Brett Hill, head of health and protection at independent consultancy Broadstone, said: “After six months of slow, hard-won progress in government efforts to reduce waiting lists, we unfortunately saw the number of people waiting for treatment rise again in March.
“There was always the risk that, after the initial progress made as a result of ending the previous industrial action, the going would get harder as the extent of the backlog hit the reality of limited NHS resources following years of under-investment in public healthcare.
“Today’s levels are up more than 70% compared to pre-pandemic levels – and even before the pandemic the number of people waiting for treatment had been steadily rising year on year.
“Employers and employees alike can’t afford to wait for the NHS to catch up.
“Rising absenteeism and economic inactivity due to untreated or undiagnosed conditions are having a profound impact on the UK’s productivity and growth, and businesses are increasingly recognising the need to take responsibility for their workforce health strategy.
“We’re seeing growing demand for comprehensive, preventative care programmes that go beyond traditional healthcare benefits, with ever more focus on providing access to primary care, wellbeing support and health screening services, all of which are increasingly essential for maintaining a healthy, productive workforce.”