Acute sector

Accident & Emergency (A&E) (data for July 2026)

A&E attendances

• There were 2.49 million A&E attendances this month, compared with 2.44 million in June. This value stood at 2.41 million in July 2025. This is the busiest month on record and is shown in Figure 1. Four of the busiest ever months for A&E attendances have been in 2026 (July, May, June and March 2026).
  
  
• 75.4% of patients were seen within four hours, compared with 75.0% in June. This remains below the 82% aim set in the medium term planning framework.
  
  
• Provisional experimental data on performance in type 1 and 2 A&E departments shows that 62.2% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, which is notably lower than the overall four-hour performance.

Figure 1

A&E emergency admissions

• There were 547,828 emergency admissions in total, compared with 559,392 in July 2025. 

12-hour waits in A&E from decision to admit to admission

• 47,438 patients waited at least 12 hours from the decision to admit to admission, compared with 35,467 in July 2025.

12 hours in an emergency department (ED) from arrival

• 150,780 patients waited more than 12 hours from arrival at a type 1 & 2 A&E, compared with 123,077 in July 2025. 
  
  
• Waits of over 12 hours in A&E occurred 9.6% of the time, meeting the 10% aim outlined in the UEC delivery plan published in June 2025.

Corridor care (data for July 2026)

• New, experimental data shows that on average 2,300 patients each day experienced corridor care in emergency departments in July, compared with 2,432 in June.
  
  
•  A further 728 patients received care in similar settings elsewhere in hospital, compared with 669 in May.  
  
  
• Detailed corridor care definitions can be found here.

Acute discharge delays (data for July 2026)

• On average, 60.1% of patients who no longer met the criteria to reside remained in hospital per day, compared with 55.7% for July 2025.

Cancer (data for June 2026)

• 79.0% of patients were told they have cancer, or cancer was definitively excluded within 28 days of urgent referral (FDS) compared with 76.8% in June 2025. The target set out in the Medium Term Planning Framework was for this to be maintained at 80%.
  
  
• 92.2% of patients waited less than a month from a decision to treat to first treatment (31-day target) compared with 91.7% in June 2025. The operational standard is for this to be 96%. 
  
  
• 69.9% of patients waited less than two months from an urgent suspected cancer referral to a first definitive treatment (62-day target), compared with 67.3% in June 2025. The target set out in the Medium Term Planning Framework was for this to be maintained at 85%. 

Diagnostics (data for June 2026)

• 2.65 million diagnostic tests and procedures were carried out this month, compared with 2.52 million in June 2025. This is the busiest month on record. 
  
  
• The waiting list reached 1.92 million. The waiting list was 1.73 million in June 2025. 
  
  
• 23.3% of patients have been on an NHS waiting list for diagnostic tests for 6 weeks or more, compared with 21.3% in June 2025.

Elective waiting list (data for June 2026)

• The size of the waiting list decreased to 7.27 million in June, compared with 7.28 million in May. This is notably lower than the 7.37 million in June 2025, but the list remains significantly higher than before the pandemic (4.51 million in June 2019). The progress seen on reducing the elective waiting list since April 2024 is shown in Figure 2. 
  
  
• 84.6% of patients on the waiting list were unique patients. This is an estimated 6.15 million people. 
  
  
• The number of cases waiting more than 18 weeks was 2.48 million, compared with 2.83 in June 2025.
  
  
• Waits within 18 weeks were equivalent to 65.8% of the total, compared with 61.5% in June 2025. This therefore means that the planning guidance aim for 65% of treatments to be waiting no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026 was met this month, but the target of 70% in the medium-term planning framework was not achieved. The progress seen on improving the proportion of patients waiting more than 18 weeks is shown in Figure 2.  
  
  
• Waits of over 52 weeks (105,711) have fallen from 191,755 in June 2025 and now account for 1.5% of all waits. The planning guidance sets out an aim for waits over a year to account for 1% of all waits by this month, which was not met.
  
  
• 1.66 million cases were managed on the waiting list this month, which is the busiest June and fourth busiest month on record. 
  
  
• Demand for elective care, measured by new cases added to the list (1.97 million cases) continued to outpace activity. This is the largest number of new cases in a single month on record.   

Figure 2