NHS Activity Tracker: April 2026

Acute sector

2.43 million
A&E attendances – the busiest since records began
77.1%
of A&E patients were seen within four hours – the best performance since July 2021
1.86 million
people waiting for diagnostic testing – the highest since records began

There were a record breaking 2.43 million A&E attendances this month, compared with 2.12 million in February. This value stood at 2.39 million in March 2025. This is the highest figure since records began in August 2010. This is shown in Figure 1.
Despite the record-breaking A&E attendance, 77.1% of patients were seen within four hours, compared with 74.1% in February. This is the best performance since July 2021 but remains below the 78% aim set for the month in the 2025/26 planning guidance.
New, experimental data on performance in type 1 and 2 A&E departments shows that 64.7% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, which is notably lower than the overall four-hour performance.

Figure 1
Total A&E attendances

There were 553,892 emergency admissions in total, compared with 551,129 in March 2025.

46,665 patients waited at least 12 hours from the decision to admit to admission, compared with 46,766 in March 2025.

136,201 patients waited more than 12 hours from arrival at a type 1 & 2 A&E in March, compared with 146,602 in March 2025.
Waits of over 12 hours in A&E occurred 9.0% of the time, meeting of the 10% aim outlined in the UEC delivery plan published in June.

On average, 59.7% of patients who no longer met the criteria to reside remained in hospital per day, compared with 58.7% for March 2025.

80.5% of patients were told they have cancer, or cancer was definitively excluded within 28 days of urgent referral (FDS) compared with 80.2% in February 2025. If this can be maintained, it has achieved the target set out in the 2025/26 planning guidance is for this figure to be 80% by March 2026.
93.0% of patients waited less than a month from a decision to treat to first treatment (31-day target) compared with 91.1% in February 2025. The operational standard is for this to be 96%.
68.6% of patients waited less than two months from an urgent suspected cancer referral to a first definitive treatment (62-day target), compared with 67.2% in February 2025. The March 2026 aims set out in the 2025/26 planning guidance is for this figure to be 75%.

2.39 million diagnostic tests were carried out this month, compared with 2.34 million in February 2025. This is the highest figure for February since records began in January 2006.
The waiting list reached 1.86 million, the highest figure since records began in January 2006. The waiting list was 1.67 million in February 2025, and 1.08 million in February 2020, indicating sustained strain on diagnostic services since the pandemic.
20.2% of patients have been on an NHS waiting list for diagnostic tests for 6 weeks or more at the end of February, compared with 17.5% in February 2025.

The size of the waiting list decreased to 7.22 million in February, compared with 7.25 million in January. This is notably lower than the 7.40 million in February 2025, but the list remains significantly higher than before the pandemic (4.57 million in February 2020). The progress seen on reducing the elective waiting list since January 2024 is shown in Figure 2.
The waiting list is at its lowest for nearly three years.
84.6% of patients on the waiting list were unique patients. This is an estimated 6.11 million people.
The number of cases waiting more than 18 weeks was 2.70 million, compared with 3.02 in February 2025.
Waits within 18 weeks were equivalent to 62.6% of all the total, compared with 59.2% in February 2025. The progress seen on improving the proportion of patients waiting less than 18 weeks is shown in Figure 2. Further progress is needed to meet the planning guidance aim for 65% of treatments to be waiting no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026.
Waits of over 52 weeks (122,668) have fallen from 193,525 in February 2025 and now account for 1.7% of all waits. The planning guidance sets out an aim for waits over a year to account for 1% of all waits by March 2026.
1.52 million cases were managed on the waiting list this month.
Demand for elective care, measured by new cases added to the list (1.75 million cases) continued to outpace activity.

Figure 2
Waiting list alongside the percentage of waiting patients waiting less than 18 weeks

Note: the x axis does not start at 0 to show a clearer picture of how performance has changed