Hardworking NHS staff delivered record numbers of treatments as the waiting list fell in May for the first time in 17 years*, new figures reveal today.

Monthly NHS data shows the overall waiting list dropped by nearly 30,000 in May to 7.36 million – the lowest total since March 2023 – with 60.9% waiting 18 weeks or less for planned care (the highest proportion since July 2022).

Staff carried out an average of 75,009 planned treatments each working day in May – the highest number on record – with a total of 1.5 million treatments across the month, which is up on 1.45 million in April and higher than 1,437,914 pre-pandemic (May 2019).

It was the busiest May ever for the number of tests and checks, with 2.5 million (2,465,184) carried out, up 23% on pre-pandemic (1,996,365 in May 2019), with community diagnostic centres seeing patients closer to their homes.

The new figures show June was the busiest month ever for A&Es with average daily attendances of over 78,300 – with last month seeing 14 days covered by heat health alerts, and another heatwave set to hit in the coming days. Despite this, the highest proportion of patients were seen within 4 hours since August 2024 (75.5%) and it was the best June performance since 2021.

While ambulance services also faced the busiest June since 2021 with 759,635 incidents, teams reached patients faster with category 1 response times 26 seconds quicker on average than June 2024 at 7:55, and category 2 responses 5 minutes faster than last year at 29:37.

As part of the government’s bold package of reforms to help drive down NHS waiting lists, millions more patients are expected to have their care diverted away from hospital and into the community through a process known as Advice and Guidance. The scheme sees GPs working more closely with hospital specialists to access expert advice quickly and speed their patients through the system, meaning they can get their care closer to home and not have to join the waiting list.

Since recently announcing an expansion of the scheme, more than 99% of practices in England have signed up, meaning up to 2 million extra patients are expected to avoid an unnecessary hospital wait in the next year.

A survey published today also shows patient satisfaction with GP services has improved. The GP patient survey, commissioned by NHS England and carried out by Ipsos, shows three-quarters (75.4 percent) had a good experience of their GP practice an increase of 1.5 percentage points on 2024. This breaks a trend of declining satisfaction seen in surveys conducted before the pandemic.

The NHS will also today publish a new dashboard showing performance for each trust on 7 key measures in its latest boost to transparency, enabling patients to check their local trust’s performance on overall waiting lists, cancer, diagnostic test and checks and A&E waits.

Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS England’s Co-National Medical Director (Secondary Care), said: “Today’s figures show the hard work of all NHS staff with the overall waiting list dropping to its lowest since March 2023, with a reduction in May delivered for the first time in many years.

“Across the NHS, our staff are showing their determination to improve access to services and bring down waits for treatment, whether it’s more evening and weekend appointments or people getting tested and checked closer to home at community diagnostic centres.

“This continued recovery has been a national effort across the health service and it would – of course – be hugely disappointing if this progress were to stall this summer due to industrial action.

“We are still seeing huge demand across NHS services, with a record June for A&E attendances and rising demand for ambulances, but despite this, patients are being seen quicker. With another heatwave on the way in the coming days, I would urge the public to take care and follow advice for keeping safe during hot weather”.

Data already shows that over 1 million patients were diverted away from joining the waiting list between July 2024 and March 2025, up 12% on the year before, through the Advice and Guidance scheme. Backed by £80 million of funding, GPs are able to claim £20 for each pre-referral request.

NHS staff have now delivered 4.6 million extra elective appointments since July – more than double the 2 million the government promised in its first year.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting said: “NHS waiting lists have fallen in May for the first time in 17 years, dropping by more than 260,000 since we took office. This is not a coincidence – it is because this government has delivered on the Plan for Change and put in the work to finally get our NHS moving in the right direction.

“But this recovery is only just beginning, and it is fragile. It is only with NHS staff and the government working together that we can rebuild our NHS so it is there for patients once again.

“That is why I am once again urging the British Medical Association (BMA) to abandon their unreasonable rush to strike and work with us to improve resident doctors working lives instead”.

The progress being made demonstrates the ongoing impact of the Elective care reform plan, backed by a record £26 billion investment, which outlined measures to boost patient experience and deliver faster diagnosis and treatment, to end the cycle of people getting stuck waiting between GP referrals and hospital appointments.

And last week, the 10 Year Health Plan unveiled ways to bring the NHS closer to home, with neighbourhood health services to be rolled out across the country, bringing diagnostics, mental health, post-op, rehab and nursing to people’s doorsteps.

Dr Rabia Aftab, a GP working at Riverside Surgery in North Lincolnshire, said: “Appropriate and meaningful use of the Advice and Guidance service can play a crucial role in facilitating more efficient and appropriate patient care and therefore help reshape the structure and function of our NHS.

“It is a secure, digital, 2-way communication between patient’s GP and hospital specialist that ensures prompt and right care is given to the patient at the right time.

“The NHS 10 Year Plan highlights the need to move patient care from hospital to community and shift from analogue to digital. The A&G service does exactly that, and I cannot recommend its benefits highly enough”.

Background

*  The latest NHS monthly performance statistics are available on the NHS England website.
*  *This waiting list data monthly comparison excludes the pandemic year 2020 due to fewer patients being able to seek elective treatment during that period as a result of lockdown and social distancing restrictions.
*  The announcement of the operational waiting time standard for incomplete pathways in November 2011 and its introduction from April 2012 is likely to have led to improvements in data capture of RTT incomplete pathways in some hospital trusts, particularly with regard to short waiters. It is likely that this caused some of the increase in the referral to treatment (RTT) waiting list during 2012/13.