THOUSANDS of patients across the North West received planned treatment in 2025, as the NHS delivered more elective activity than any other year in its history.

Statistics released today show that elective activity has helped cut the national waiting list to its lowest level since February 2023.

This milestone has been achieved despite demand across emergency services showing no signs of letting up, and the NHS on track for its busiest winter ever.

Despite these pressures and five days of industrial action by resident doctors, NHS staff nationally maintained almost 95 percent of usual activity during strikes.

In the North West, between December 2024 and December 2025, the elective waiting list came down by over 36,590 (falling from 1.04 million to 1.01 million).

This 3.5 percent fall is thanks to the Elective Reform Plan and the efforts of NHS staff to hold more appointments, clinics and theatre activity throughout the year.

The plan has led to an expansion of community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs across the country including the North West, creating more evening and weekend clinics, as well as sending patients “straight to test” rather than multiple clinic visits.

This means fewer cancelled operations, speedy diagnoses and shorter waits for treatment.

Dr Michael Gregory, Regional Medical Director for NHS England in the North West, said, “Achieving this milestone in elective care is such a great achievement and has only been possible through the hard work of our NHS staff across the region.

“While we’re really pleased to see improvements in the performance of our urgent and emergency care this winter, we recognise there’s still more work to reduce long waits and improve patient experience.

“We thank our colleagues for working so hard. We recognise how difficult it is for patients. Ensuring we’re able to improve waiting lists for planned care while making sure services continue safely and effectively is really important for us.”

There have been significant improvements in several areas across the region. In Greater Manchester, for instance, waiting lists reduced at both Manchester University NHS FT and Stockport NHS FT by 10.7 percent and 5.2 percent respectively. Bolton NHS FT saw a 9.1 percent fall.

In Cheshire and Merseyside, Warrington and Halton NHS FT saw a 1.3 percent fall in their waiting list. In Lancashire and South Cumbria, East Lancashire NHS Trust saw an 18.5 percent fall.

The improvements relate to non-emergency treatment such as hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and other planned operations known as elective care. This is the type of care many patients may be waiting months and sometimes years to receive.

There was a record demand for A&E nationally. In the North West A&E staff saw a 17,798 increase in total A&E attendances in January 2026, compared to the year before (from 309,079 to 326,877, representing a 5.4% increase)

Meanwhile ambulance response times are quicker than last winter – with Category 2 response times down on last year (35.43 minutes in January 2025 to 32:48 minutes in January 2026).