NHS Activity Tracker: July

Acute sector

There were 2.44 million A&E attendances this month, compared with 2.46 million in May. This value stood at 2.35 million in June 2025. This is the second busiest month on record and is shown in Figure 1. Three of the busiest ever months for A&E attendances have been in 2026 (May 2026, June 2026 and March 2026).
There were 81,264 daily attendances at A&E in June, exceeding 80,000 for the first time on record.
75.0% of patients were seen within four hours, compared with 75.7% in May. 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 61.8% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, which is notably lower than the overall four-hour performance.

Figure 1

There were 534,753 emergency admissions in total, compared with 535,941 in June 2025.

49,466 patients waited at least 12 hours from the decision to admit to admission, compared with 38,683 in June 2025.

149,013 patients waited more than 12 hours from arrival at a type 1 & 2 A&E in June, compared with 128,925 in June 2025.
Waits of over 12 hours in A&E occurred 9.7% of the time, meeting the 10% aim outlined in the UEC delivery plan published in June 2025.

New, experimental data shows that on average 2,432 patients each day experienced corridor care in emergency departments in June, compare with 2,241 in May.
A further 749 patients received care in similar settings elsewhere in hospital, compared with 669 in May.
Detailed corridor care definitions can be found here.

On average, 59.5% of patients who no longer met the criteria to reside remained in hospital per day, compared with 55.5% for June 2025.

79.0% of patients were told they have cancer, or cancer was definitively excluded within 28 days of urgent referral (FDS) compared with 74.8% in May 2025. The target set out in the Medium Term Planning Framework was for this to be maintained at 80%.
92.8% of patients waited less than a month from a decision to treat to first treatment (31-day target) compared with 91.0% in May 2025. The operational standard is for this to be 96%.
69.6% of patients waited less than two months from an urgent suspected cancer referral to a first definitive treatment (62-day target), compared with 68.1% in April 2025. The target set out in the Medium Term Planning Framework was for this to be maintained at 85%.

2.52 million diagnostic tests and procedures were carried out this month, compared with 2.49 million in May 2025. This is the busiest may on record.
The waiting list reached 1.90 million. The waiting list was 1.71 million in May 2025.
24.0% of patients have been on an NHS waiting list for diagnostic tests for 6 weeks or more at the end of April, compared with 22.0% in May 2025.

The size of the waiting list increased to 7.28 million in May, compared with 7.22 million in April. This is notably lower than the 7.36 million in May 2025, but the list remains significantly higher than before the pandemic (4.50 million in May 2019). The progress seen on reducing the elective waiting list since January 2024 is shown in Figure 2.
84.6% of patients on the waiting list were unique patients. This is an estimated 6.16 million people.
The number of cases waiting more than 18 weeks was 2.51 million, compared with 2.87 in May 2025.
Waits within 18 weeks were equivalent to 65.6% of the total, compared with 60.9% in May 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 (104,734) have fallen from 196,839 in May 2025 and now account for 1.4% 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.
1.43 million cases were managed on the waiting list this month.
Demand for elective care, measured by new cases added to the list (1.73 million cases) continued to outpace activity.

Figure 2