NHS Activity Tracker: July

On the second Thursday of the month (or the third if there are bank holidays), NHS England publishes 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 previous months, this release has shown high volumes of demand across multiple sectors. For example, record levels were seen across A&E, with over 80,000 daily attendances in June for the first time on record; in Mental Health, with 2.36 million people having an open referral with mental health services (nearly 100,000 more than the month before); and in community services, with 1.22 million people waiting, which is the highest figure on record.  

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

Key points

• A&E: There were 2.44 million A&E attendances in June, which is the second busiest month on record. This means that A&E departments have seen three record-breaking months for demand in 2026 so far. In addition, there were 81,264 daily A&E attendances, which is the first month that has exceeded 80,000. 
  
  
• Cancer: No cancer waiting time targets were met this month. Performance against the 28-day standard increased to 79.0% (the target is 80%). The 31-day target is 96%, but this figure for 92.8% for the month, and the 62-day target is 85% and the figure was 69.6%.
  
  
• Diagnostics: The diagnostic waiting list stood at 1.90 million. 2.52 million diagnostic tests and procedures were carried out, making this the busiest May on record. 
  
  
• Elective waiting list: The size of the elective waiting list increased to 7.28 million in May, from 7.22 million in April. 65.6% of cases were waiting for less than 18 weeks, meeting the target of 65% for the third month in a row. Demand for elective care, measured by new cases added to the list (1.73 million cases) continues to outpace activity (1.43m managed off the list).  
  
  
• Ambulance: There were 815,127 ambulance incidents this month. This is the highest figure for June, and the fourth busiest overall, since records began.  Average response times worsened this month: the response time for category 1 calls was eight minutes and five seconds, and for category 2 calls it was 32 minutes and 31 seconds.  
  
  
• Community: 1.22 million people were waiting for community services in May, which is the highest figure on record. There were also 1.74 million referrals to community services in April which is the busiest April on record.
  
  
• Mental health: 2.36m people had an open referral to MH services in May which is the highest figure on record, and a sharp increase on 2.26m the month before. 894,212 CYP accessed mental health services in May, also the highest figure on record.