Stella Vig, NHS National Clinical Director for Elective Care, said: “With the weekend approaching, ongoing strike action will continue to cause disruption – but we want to assure patients that staff are working extremely hard to prioritise urgent and emergency care. “Though the warm weather is subsiding, the NHS still faces significant pressure, with industrial […]

NHS staff continue to face significant demand for urgent care, with new figures showing that A&Es in England managed their busiest ever month for attendances in May. New monthly performance data also shows that it was a record April for the number of elective appointments delivered for hundreds of thousands of patients. The latest statistics, […]

The NHS has met the 28 day faster diagnosis target for cancer for the second month in a row, new figures show today, with ambulances responding to callouts faster than the month before. Almost 200,000 (77%) people referred or screened received a definitive diagnosis or the all clear within four weeks, exceeding the national ambition […]

The NHS exceeded its faster diagnosis cancer target for the first time in February amid record demand, according to new figures.  Thanks to the hard work of NHS staff, almost four fifths (78.1%) of people received a definitive cancer diagnosis or all clear within four weeks – with almost 200,000 (199,659) patients getting the answer […]

The covid backlog fell for the fourth month in a row in January despite the longest period of industrial action in NHS history, new figures show today. New monthly data published today shows the waiting list continues to fall with January data showing it is down by 27,761 from the previous month (7.58 million in […]

The NHS is encouraging retired doctors to return to the health service to help bring down long waits for elective care, making it easier and more flexible for staff to return to the NHS as part of the Long Term Workforce Plan. The NHS Emeritus pilot scheme, first announced by NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard […]

Thanks to the hard work and widespread innovation of NHS staff the waiting list has reduced, new monthly data shows today, alongside faster ambulance response times across the country. Despite huge disruption from industrial action and ongoing record levels of demand for emergency care, monthly performance data shows the number of patients waiting for elective […]

Emergency departments experienced their second busiest July ever last month, with new data published today showing 2.1 million attendances. The new data suggests this summer is currently on track to be the busiest ever for hardworking NHS staff with 4.42 million attendances in A&E over June and July – 42,500 more than the previous high […]

Retired doctors will have an option to “keep caring” and re-join the NHS to carry out outpatient appointments in a new initiative to help reduce waiting lists. From autumn, newly-retired doctors will be able to sign up to a new digital platform where they will be able to offer their availability to trusts across England […]

The head of the NHS in England has hailed the ‘great strides’ the health service is making, as new figures show major improvements across long waits, urgent and emergency services, and cancer care. The number of patients waiting more than 18 months fell to just 10,737 by April – down by more than 90% from […]