November saw the second biggest drop in the waiting list for 15
years outside of the early days of the pandemic, as new data
today shows staff faced record demand in 2025.
The waiting list fell by more than 86,000 in November to 7.31
million – and the milestone comes a year since the publication of
the Elective Reform Plan.
The progress came despite the NHS's busiest ever year, with 27.8
million A&E attendances in 2025 – over 367,000 up on 2024,
with 2.33 million attendances in December alone.
While separate figures show hospitals are continuing to battle
the impact of flu, with an average of 2,725 patients in hospital
with the virus each day last week along with a 57% rise in
norovirus cases - leaving bosses warning the health service is
“still in the thick of winter”.
The NHS saw the highest ever number of ambulance incidents in
December (846,263) taking the total number for 2025 to 9.31
million – another record year and around 1,000 a day (365,174)
more than the previous year (8.95 million).
Demand at A&Es remained high in December as winter pressures
took hold but NHS staff continued to see patients quicker. 73.8%
of patients were seen within the four-hour A&E target -
50,000 higher than a year earlier.
In the year since the Elective Reform Plan was launched, work to
cut waiting lists includes creating more evening and weekend
clinics, new and expanded community diagnostic centres and
surgical hubs, crack teams of experts being sent to 20 hospital
trusts across England with the highest levels of economic
inactivity, and cutting unnecessary appointments by sending
patients “straight to test” rather than multiple clinic visits.
Hardworking NHS staff carried out 2.45 million tests and checks
in November, while there were fewer cases where patients were
waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment (2.79 million in
November 2025 v 3.1 million in 2024).
Progress continued on cancer care, as 76.5% of people got the
all-clear or a cancer diagnosis within four weeks of an urgent
referral.
Meanwhile weekly data shows the
average number of patients in hospital with norovirus each day
last week rose by 57% to 567.
Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS National Medical Director,
said:
“NHS staff have worked incredibly hard to shrink down the waiting
list while seeing a record surge in patients last year.
“Thanks to the elective reform plan, thousands more patients got
a faster diagnosis and received quicker treatment or the
all-clear over the last 12 months.
“This is despite services facing consistently high levels of
pressure and experiencing another record year for A&E and
ambulances.
“While it's positive that the number of flu cases in hospital is
falling, this comes after a rise following the festive period –
leaving bed occupancy very high at 94.1%, so it is clear we are
still in the thick of winter.
“It is important that patients continue to only use 999 and
A&E in life-threatening emergencies and use NHS 111 and 111
online for other conditions, as well as using your local GP and
pharmacy services in the usual way.”
Health and Social Care Secretary said:
“For too long, patients were promised change in the NHS but saw
little of it. This government is turning promises into change
people can actually feel.
“Waiting lists are down by more than 312,000 and more patients
are being treated within 18 weeks. November saw the second
biggest monthly drop in waiting lists in 15 years. That means
faster care, less anxiety for families and people back on their
feet and back to work.
“This is the result of record investment and modernisation,
alongside the hard work of NHS staff. We're delivering more
evening and weekend appointments, tests closer to home, surgical
hubs cutting backlogs, and smarter use of technology.
“Winter pressures remain high and there's far more to do. We'll
keep backing NHS staff to make sure patients get the care they
need, when they need it.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
- The waiting list fell by 86,517 in November 2025 – which is
the second highest drop outside of the first three months of the
pandemic – when there was a significant drop in the number of
people referred onto the waiting list.
