Key Summary
- The NHS has met its key target by treating over 65% of patients within 18 weeks.
- Waiting lists have fallen significantly, with more than half a million fewer people waiting for care.
- NHS staff achieved this despite record pressure from winter demand, strikes and rising patient numbers.
The NHS has announced that it has achieved its target of treating at least 65 percent of patients within 18 weeks in March, alongside the drop in waiting list by half a million.
According to the NHS data, 65.3 per cent of patients were treated within that period in March, and the waiting list fell by over 312,000 last year, the largest year-on-year reduction in 16 years.
The latest data also proves that this year is the best so far regarding the record for elective care, with around 506, 000 people beginning the treatment or completing the care.
Compared to July 2024, the waiting list fell to 7.11 million this time, with a record dip in the number of people waiting in comparison to the past 6 years.
At the same time, the NHS delivered more tests, checks and scans over the last financial year than at any point in its history. It carried out a record 29.9 million diagnostic procedures.
The NHS also faced record demand in A&E, soaring ambulance callouts and unprecedented numbers of GP appointments over the past year.
While health leaders also faced three rounds of industrial action, with NHS analysis showing strikes in 2025/26 led to the loss of an estimated 171,776 appointments and procedures.
NHS chief executive officer Sir Jim Mackey said, “This is a huge moment for the NHS. Hitting our targets for the first time in years hasn’t happened by accident – it’s been down to an absolutely enormous effort from NHS staff up and down the country.
“That our staff have been able to achieve this in a year that’s seen the busiest NHS winter on record, that’s been interrupted though industrial action and that’s since the biggest shake-up of the NHS in its history makes today’s achievement all the more extraordinary.”
