What the latest NHS performance figures show

Long waits for hospital treatment have increased and cancer referral targets are being missed, although the overall size of the waiting list has fallen.

Here are the key figures from the latest NHS performance data for England:

– Overall waiting list

The waiting list for routine hospital treatment has dropped for the fourth month in a row.

An estimated 7.58 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of January, relating to 6.32 million patients, down slightly from 7.60 million treatments and 6.37 million patients at the end of December.

The list hit a record high in September 2023 with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.

It has been on an upwards path for much of the last 10 years, passing three million in 2014, four million in 2017, five million in 2021 and seven million in 2022.

In February 2020, the last full month before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the list stood at 4.57 million.

– Long waits for treatment

There were 14,013 people waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment at the end of January, up from 13,164 at the end of December.

The Government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April 2023, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.

The number of people waiting more than two years has also risen, from 282 in December to 376 in January.

Some 321,394 people had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of January, down from 337,450 at the end of December.

The Government and NHS England have set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025.

– Accident & emergency waits

Some 44,417 people had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E departments in February from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, down from 54,308 in January, which was the second-highest figure on record.

The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission has also fallen, from 158,721 in January to 139,458 last month.

Meanwhile, 70.9% of patients were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, up slightly from 70.3% in January.

The figure hit a record low of 65.2% in December 2022.

The NHS recovery plan sets a target of March 2024 for 76% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

– Cancer referrals

A total of 70.9% of patients urgently referred for suspected cancer in January were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days, down from 74.2% the previous month.

The target is 75%.

The proportion of patients waiting longer than 62 days in January from an urgent suspected cancer referral or consultant upgrade to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 62.3%, down from 65.9% in December.

The target is 85%.

GPs in England made 249,787 urgent cancer referrals in January, up from 219,841 in December and also up year-on-year from 228,402 in January 2023.

– Cancer diagnostic waiting list

The number of patients in England waiting longer than 62 days since an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer was 22,459 in the week ending January 28 2024, down from 23,756 in the week ending December 31 2023.

The figure was nearly 34,000 at the end of September 2022.

Most of the patients included in this total do not have cancer and are waiting for a diagnostic test, while around one in six do have cancer and are waiting for treatment.

The Government and NHS England set the ambition of returning this figure to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023.

The average weekly figure for the pre-pandemic month of February 2020 (covering the four weeks to March 1) was 13,463.

– Ambulance response times

The average response time in February for ambulances in England dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was eight minutes and 25 seconds.

This is down very slightly from eight minutes and 26 seconds in January, but is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.

Ambulances took an average of 36 minutes and 20 seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis.

This is down from 40 minutes and six seconds in January, while the target is 18 minutes.

Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged two hours, four minutes and 12 seconds in February, down from two hours, 12 minutes and 48 seconds in January.

Some 27% of patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England last week had to wait more than half an hour before being handed to A&E teams, up from 24% the previous week but below this winter’s peak of 34%.

– Delayed discharges

An average of 13,690 hospital beds per day last month were occupied by people ready to be discharged.

This is broadly similar to the average of 13,709 in January, but is up sharply from 12,610 in December and is the fourth highest figure since comparable records began in April 2021.

On average, 44% of patients ready to leave hospital last month were actually discharged each day, up slightly from 43% in January.

– Diagnostic tests

More than 410,000 people had been waiting longer than six weeks for a key diagnostic test in January.

Some 414,353 patients, 26.2% of the total, were waiting longer than six weeks for one of 15 standard tests, including an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy.

The figure is down slightly from 416,889 (26.8% of the total) in December, and lower than the equivalent figure for January 2023, which was 485,956 (30.8%).

The NHS elective recovery plan sets the ambition that 95% of patients needing a diagnostic test receive it within six weeks by March 2025.