The NHS delivered over 100,000 more treatments in March compared
to the same month last year, with a quarter of a million fewer
waiting longer than 18 weeks for care.
New data published today also shows that NHS staff have carried
out over 1.5 million treatments in just one month, and 3.3
million additional appointments since July 2024.
Despite increased demand, the NHS is continuing to make progress
in reducing the longest waits, cutting the number of waits over
18, 52 and 65 weeks respectively.
The growth, thanks to the Elective Care Reform Plan, is in
addition to almost 1.8 million new referrals to the waiting list
in March – an increase of 124,000 compared to the same month last
year - showing that despite greater demand typical of this time
of year, the NHS is delivering activity at a greater rate than
last year.
As set out in the Plan for Change, the NHS and the government
have set out ambitious measures to return to the 92% 18-week
standard by March 2029, with today's data showing 59.8% waiting
less than 18 weeks - the highest proportion since August 2022.
Despite the overall backlog growing by 18,751 to 7.42 million,
staff have delivered over 4.5 million treatments in the first
three months of 2025.
England's top doctor said that the figures for the first three
months of the year show that the plan is already “bearing fruit”
across England.
It was the busiest March ever for the number of tests and checks
carried out for patients with community diagnostic hubs helping
to deliver almost 2.5 million checks - an extra half a million
diagnostic tests compared to the same month in 2019, up a
quarter.
Thanks to the efforts of NHS staff, the 28-day cancer target in
March continues to be met with over 200,000 (217,366) given the
all clear or a definitive cancer diagnosis within four weeks –
over 16,000 more compared to the same month last year (8%
increase).
The monthly performance statistics also show that urgent and
emergency care services continued to be under pressure last
month, with more A&E attendances than any other April.
Despite over two million attendances (2,295,820), April's
performance was the best it has been for four years.
Ambulance services also saw significant improvements in
performance despite more pressure on staff for this time of year
- almost three quarters of a million incidents - with Category 1
calls at their fastest since May 2021 at 7:43, against an overall
target of 7 minutes.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England's National
Medical Director, said:
“The scale of demand that our frontline NHS teams are managing is
enormous - today's figures show that each month, they are having
to not only deal with an historic backlog, but they are also
working to keep up with the hundreds of thousands of new patients
that need our care.
“In March, we saw a particularly sharp rise in referrals – yet
staff still managed to deliver more for patients with 100,000
more treatments delivered and thousands more getting a timely
diagnosis for cancer.
“It is a good thing that more people are coming forward for care
– and I would urge anyone who has health concerns to come forward
and get checked out as soon as they can.
“While huge pressure on services remain, these figures show that
the Elective Care Reform Plan is bearing fruit for patients
across the country with the NHS already reforming to work in new
ways to deliver for patients.”
Health and Social Care Secretary, said:
“Since day one, we have been clear it will take time to reverse
the disastrous waiting list we inherited. But since July, real
progress has been made – including over winter. We have overseen
a massive increase in appointments available to meet rising
demand, reduced long waits and helped people get diagnosed
quicker.
“Thanks to the hard work of NHS staff, we have now delivered more
than 3.3 million extra appointments, helping hundreds of
thousands of people get off the waiting list and get on with
their lives.
“Our Plan for Change will continue to put patients first as we
work to end the misery felt by millions up and down the country
who have been denied the care they need for too long.”
Background
- The latest NHS monthly performance statistics are available
here.
