Activity Tracker: May 2026

On the second Thursday of the month (or the third if there are bank holidays), NHS England publish data relating to demand, activity, waiting times and national performance against constitutional standards and recovery targets across the secondary care sector. Each month, we'll take a more detailed look at national and trust level data across the acute, ambulance, community and mental health sectors.

As with the last few months, this data shows high levels demand across multiple sectors. For example, there were 2.35 million A&E attendances in April 2026 (the busiest April on record), the number of new cases added to the elective care waiting list reached 1.95 million (the highest since records began), and 879,955 CYP accessed mental health services (the highest since records began). However, a number of positives were also evident in this data. Notably, elective care waits within 18 weeks were equivalent to 65.3% of the total, meaning that the planning guidance aim of 65% was met. In addition, there were record levels of elective care activity with 1.71 million cases managed on the waiting list, and the average ambulance response time for category 2 calls was 24 minutes and 27 seconds which is the fastest that category 2 response times have been in five years. 

Please note that these are national averages and there is considerable regional variation in these metrics. 

Key points

• A&E: There were 2.35 million A&E attendances in April 2026, which is the busiest April on record. 76.9% of patients were seen within four hours.
  
  
• Cancer: Performance against the 28-day standard was 79.4%, which nearly meets the target set out in the 2025/26 planning guidance (80%). The 31-day and 62-day targets are both performing slightly better than last year but have not met their targets.
  
  
• Diagnostics: 2.62 million diagnostic tests were carried out this month. This is the highest number of tests carried out in a March since records began. The waiting list reached 1.92 million, which the highest it has been since records began in January 2006. 
  
  
• Elective waiting list: The size of the waiting list decreased to 7.11 million in March, compared with 7.22 million in February. Waits within 18 weeks were equivalent to 65.3% of the total, therefore meeting the planning guidance aim for 65% of treatments to be waiting no longer than 18 weeks. There were record levels of activity with 1.71 million cases managed on the waiting list, but also record levels of demand with 1.95 million cases added to the list. 
  
  
• Ambulance: There were 789,214 ambulance incidents in April, which is the highest April figure since records began. The average response time for category 1 calls was seven minutes and 40 seconds, and for category 2 calls it was 24 minutes and 27 seconds. This is the fastest that category 2 response times have been in five years. 
  
  
• Community: 1.21 million people were waiting for community services in March, which is the highest figure on record. 25.5% of all CYP on the community waiting list have been waiting 52 weeks or more, compared with 0.8% of the adult waiting list. There were 1.69 million referrals to community services received in February 2025, which is the most referrals received in a February since 2019.
  
  
• Mental health: 2.12 million people were in contact with mental health services at the ned of March. In the 12 months to March, 879,955 CYP accessed mental health services, which is the highest figure since records began in March 2021.