NHS Activity Tracker: September 2026

Acute sector

2.34m
A&E attendances – the busiest August on record
2.72m
diagnostic tests and procedures carried out – the busiest month on record
1.99m
cases added to the elective care waiting list – the busiest month on record

There were 2.34 million A&E attendances this month, compared with 2.49 million in July. This value stood at 2.27 million in August 2025. This is shown in Figure 1 and is the busiest August on record.
5.0% of patients were seen within four hours, compared with 75.4% in July. 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 61.5% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, which is notably lower than the overall four-hour performance.

Figure 1

There were 517,868 emergency admissions in total, compared with 526,399 in August 2025.

44,951 patients waited at least 12 hours from the decision to admit to admission, compared with 35,909 in August 2025.

143,665 patients waited more than 12 hours from arrival at a type 1 & 2 A&E, compared with 126,344 in August 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 2,296 patients each day experienced corridor care in emergency departments in August, compared with 2,300 in July.
A further 677 patients received care in similar settings elsewhere in hospital, compared with 728 in July.
Detailed corridor care definitions can be found here.

On average, 61.5% of patients who no longer met the criteria to reside remained in hospital per day, compared with 57.4% for August 2025.

79.3% of patients were told they have cancer, or cancer was definitively excluded within 28 days of urgent referral (FDS) compared with 76.5% in July 2025. The target set out in the Medium-Term Planning Framework was for this to be maintained at 80%.
92.5% of patients waited less than a month from a decision to treat to first treatment (31-day target) compared with 92.4% in July 2025. The operational standard is for this to be 96%.
71.2% of patients waited less than two months from an urgent suspected cancer referral to a first definitive treatment (62-day target), compared with 69.5% in July 2025. The target set out in the Medium-Term Planning Framework was for this to be maintained at 85%.

2.72 million diagnostic tests and procedures were carried out this month, compared with 2.65 million in July 2025. This is the busiest month on record.
The waiting list reached 1.92 million. The waiting list was 1.75 million in July 2025.
23.1% of patients have been on an NHS waiting list for diagnostic tests for 6 weeks or more, compared with 21.9% in July 2025.

The size of the waiting list increased to 7.33 million in July, compared with 7.27 million in June. This is lower than the 7.39 million in July 2025, but the list remains significantly higher than before the pandemic (4.52 million in July 2019). The progress seen on reducing the elective waiting list since April 2024 is shown in Figure 2.
84.7% of patients on the waiting list were unique patients. This is an estimated 6.21 million people.
The number of cases waiting more than 18 weeks was 2.54 million, compared with 2.86 million in July 2025.
Waits within 18 weeks were equivalent to 65.4% of the total, compared with 61.3% in July 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 (111,379) have fallen from 191,213 in July 2025 and now account for 1.5% of all waits.
1.65 million cases were managed on the waiting list this month. This is the busiest July on record.
Demand for elective care, measured by new cases added to the list (1.99 million cases) continued to outpace activity. This is the largest number of new cases in a single month on record.

Figure 2