NHS waiting list drops to lowest level in three years

This marks a drop of 44,000 people compared to 7.29m people on the waiting list in December 2025 and 180,000 from the corresponding month in 2025 when the list sat at 7.43m. Some 4.5m patients – or 61.4% - were seen within the Government's targeted 18-week referral to treatment time, which is down from 61.5% the month prior. The median wait time in January 2026 was 13.6 weeks, which is up slightly from 13.4 weeks in December 2026. Despite January's waiting list total representing the lowest level in three years, waiting times for diagnostic tests have increased in the last year. Th...