NHS waiting list down to 7.31m

The list fell by 86,000 month-to-month, however fewer people were seen within the Government's targeted 18-week referral to treatment time. The NHS claimed this to be the second biggest drop in those waiting in the last 15 years, with the list falling from 4.57m patients to 3.95m between February and May 2020. In October 2025, 4.5m people were seen in this bracket, in November the number stood at 4.41m. Whilst this reflects a lower patient number overall, the ratio of patients within the targeted time dropped from 61.7% to 61.6% over the month. Those waiting longer periods for trea...