NHS waiting list up but number of patients facing longest waits falls
Separate figures published by the health service also shows 11,000 more appointments and procedures went ahead during resident doctor strikes last month when compared to walkouts in 2024.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting will continue discussions with the British Medical Association (BMA) throughout the summer in a bid to avert further industrial action.
The latest performance data from NHS England shows an estimated 7.37 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of June, relating to 6.23 million patients – up from 7.36 million treatments and just under 6.23 million patients at the end of May.
The slight increase comes after the list fell for two consecutive months.
However, the proportion of patients facing the longest waits decreased in June.
Some 1,103 patients had been waiting more than 18 months to start routine treatment, down from 1,237 in May, and there were 10,517 patients who had been waiting more than 65 weeks, down from 11,522 the previous month.
This figure stood at 58,024 in June 2024.
The number of patients waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine treatment also fell to 191,813 from 196,920 at the end of May.
Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation, said: 'While summer is often a time for the NHS to catch its breath, today's data shows hospitals and ambulance services remain under relentless pressure.'
The monthly figures come after health analysts claimed they have spotted a 'contradiction' in the data and called for more transparency in the way in which the waiting list is reported.
Experts at the think tank Nuffield Trust suggest that more patients are being referred for treatment than leaving the waiting list, despite the overall waiting list coming down.
Responding to the latest figures, Dr Becks Fisher, Nuffield Trust director of research and policy, said the waiting list 'remains stubbornly high'.
She added: 'Our new analysis shows that waiting list reductions in previous months are not wholly due to increases in appointments being delivered. In fact, the NHS is still treating fewer patients than are being referred.
'But, an average of about 245,000 cases have been coming off the list each month due to reasons other than patients being recorded as getting their treatment.
'Doing this work to improve the accuracy of the waiting list is important, but we should be under no illusions that despite delivering more appointments, the NHS is still not meeting patient demand.'
Elsewhere, new analysis from NHS England found more care was delivered during the most recent doctors' strike compared to a year ago.
Resident doctors in England walked out for five days on July 25 in a dispute with the Government over pay.
According to the health service, 11,071 more appointments and procedures went ahead during this strike compared to the five-day walkout before the general election in 2024.
Staff absences were also lower, it said, with around 1,243 fewer staff absent each day on average compared to last June.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the figures show the NHS 'was more resilient against last month's strike action than ever before'.
'We are getting on with the job of delivering progress in the face of strike action, and we will continue to put patients first,' he said.
'I had a constructive conversation with the BMA last week and I am glad they've agreed to continue engagement through the summer with the mutual aim of preventing further disruption to the NHS and patients.'
Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS national medical director, said: 'It is very welcome news that the Resident Doctors Committee has returned to talks – and we hope this leads to a resolution that avoids further disruption for patients.'
However, a BMA spokesperson said every staff absence during last month's strike 'was totally avoidable'.
They added: 'Had the Government just come forward with a credible offer toward pay restoration for resident doctors, those doctors would have been at work.
'Instead, Government inaction meant we saw yet more cancellations, delays and chaos in a health system that is already seeing far too much of all three.
'We hope Government uses the opportunity of our ongoing talks to avoid any need for future action. Today's figures show there are far too many patients on waiting lists relying on a swift and just resolution to this dispute.'
Meanwhile, data on A&E wait times shows 76.4% of patients were seen within four hours last month, up from 75.5% in June.
The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission fell to 115,542 in July, down from 118,171 in June, while those waiting 12 hours fell to 35,467 from 38,683 a month earlier.
Despite this reduction, Dr Nick Murch, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, described the 12-hour wait figure as 'unacceptable'.
He said: 'Clinicians across the UK are reporting this week as one of the worst they have experienced, with no sign of the brief respite seen in the immediate aftermath of recent strike action, yet there remains no tangible and immediate action to address urgent workforce and capacity issues.'
Elsewhere, some 76.8% of patients urgently referred for suspected cancer were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days in June, up from 74.8% in May, but below the 80% target set by the Government and NHS England for March 2026.
The proportion of patients who had waited no longer than 62 days in June from an urgent suspected cancer referral, or consultant upgrade, to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 67.1%, down slightly from 67.8% in May.
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