Historical trend
By nation
England 7.60m patients
Scotland 580.0k patients
Wales 620.0k patients
Northern Ireland 385.0k patients
Source: NHS England
Trend summary
The NHS England Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting list stood at approximately 7.4 million in March 2025, down from its peak of 7.77 million in September 2023.
Trend
- The waiting list rose from under 4 million before the pandemic to 7.77 million by September 2023.
- The list has declined since the 2023 peak, reaching around 7.4 million by early 2025.
- The proportion waiting more than 52 weeks has declined from a peak of around 4% in 2022 to around 2% in early 2025.
Context
- NHS England publishes RTT statistics monthly; figures cover incomplete pathways (patients awaiting treatment).
- The 18-week RTT standard (92% of patients treated within 18 weeks) has not been met nationally since 2016.
Trend summary generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 on 11 April 2025. Contains no editorial judgement — describes direction, magnitude, and official projections only.
About this indicator
- Source
- NHS England
- Update frequency
- Monthly
- Last updated
- 16 June 2026
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Rising trend is…
- Negative
Statistics
- Latest
- 7014879.0 patients
- Period high
- 7641774.0
- Period low
- 2315060.0
- Period average
- 3838215.1