# The NHS waiting list: what 7.3 million pathways actually means

At the end of May 2026 there were 7,278,384 referral to treatment pathways on which a patient was waiting to start consultant led hospital treatment in England, NHS England's own headline figure including its estimates for two trusts that did not submit data. Because some people wait on more than one pathway at once, NHS England estimates this represents around 6.2 million individual patients. 65.6 per cent had been waiting up to 18 weeks, against a standard of 92 per cent that has not been met since September 2015.

Source page: https://britishresilienceindex.com/deep-dive/nhs-waiting-list
Machine readable data: https://britishresilienceindex.com/data/deep-dive/nhs-waiting-list.json
Period: May 2026
Published: 9 July 2026

## How to read this

A pathway starts when a GP or other clinician refers a patient for consultant led treatment, and ends when treatment starts (or the patient is removed for another reason). The waiting list is the count of unfinished pathways at month end, not a count of people: NHS England's linkage of the May 2026 list to unique NHS numbers found 85 pathways per 100 belonged to distinct patients, which is where the estimate of around 6.2 million people comes from. The 18 week standard is that 92 per cent of the list should have been waiting 18 weeks or less.

## 7,278,384 pathways, around 6.2 million people

The 7,278,384 figure includes NHS England's estimates for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Torbay and South Devon, which submitted no May data. Without those estimates the reported list is 7,153,655. The list is 77,566 pathways smaller than a year earlier, a fall of 1.1 per cent.

- **Waiting**: 7,278,384
- **Waiting reported**: 7,153,655
- **Unique patients**: around 6.2 million
- **Yoy change**: -77,566
- **Median**: 12.4
- **P92**: 38.6
- **Pct18**: 65.6
- **Standard**: 92
- **Standard last met**: September 2015

## From 4.6 million to 7.8 million and part way back

On the eve of the pandemic, in February 2020, the list stood at 4,573,675 with 82.9 per cent within 18 weeks. It peaked at 7,768,573 in September 2023. Three years of slow decline have brought it to 7,278,384: still roughly 59 per cent larger than before the pandemic, on a standard last met in September 2015.

**Series**

| label | waiting | pct18 |
|---|---|---|
| May 2008 | 2,871,949 | 73.2 |
| May 2009 | 2,484,035 | 89.3 |
| May 2010 | 2,603,934 | 91.9 |
| May 2011 | 2,580,472 | 90.9 |
| May 2012 | 2,586,681 | 94.3 |
| May 2013 | 2,847,373 | 94.8 |
| May 2014 | 3,196,627 | 93.6 |
| May 2015 | 3,392,565 | 93.2 |
| May 2016 | 3,841,761 | 91.4 |
| May 2017 | 3,973,736 | 90.3 |
| May 2018 | 4,277,422 | 88 |
| May 2019 | 4,497,746 | 86.5 |
| May 2020 | 3,950,230 | 62.6 |
| May 2021 | 5,305,425 | 67.4 |
| May 2022 | 6,668,099 | 63.6 |
| May 2023 | 7,475,194 | 59.5 |
| May 2024 | 7,601,650 | 59.1 |
| May 2025 | 7,355,950 | 60.9 |
| May 2026 | 7,278,384 | 65.6 |

**Pre pandemic**: label Feb 2020, waiting 4,573,675, pct18 82.9

**Peak**: label Sep 2023, waiting 7,768,573

## 104,734 waiting more than a year

In May 2019 just 1,255 pathways had been open more than 52 weeks. The pandemic took that to 436,127 by March 2021. It now stands at 104,734: vastly better than the peak, still more than eighty times the pre pandemic norm. The very longest waits have been almost eliminated: two year waits peaked at 24,424 in January 2022 and now number 177.

**Bands**

| band | count | peak | peakLabel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over 52 weeks | 104,734 | 436,127 | Mar 2021 |
| Over 65 weeks | 6,740 | 233,051 | Jun 2021 |
| Over 78 weeks | 1,144 | 124,911 | Sep 2021 |
| Over 104 weeks | 177 | 24,424 | Jan 2022 |

**Low52**: label May 2019, count 1,255

## 1.7 million joined in a single month

The list is not a queue that stands still. During May 2026, 1,725,997 new pathways were started, 293,707 were completed with admitted treatment and 1,133,648 were completed in other ways. The list shrinks only when completions and removals outpace a relentless intake; this is why even record treatment volumes move the total slowly.

- **New periods**: 1,725,997
- **Completed admitted**: 293,707
- **Completed non admitted**: 1,133,648

## Trauma and orthopaedics is the biggest queue

Incomplete pathways by specialty, from the May 2026 full extract. These figures are on a commissioner basis and exclude the two non-reporting trusts, so they sum to the reported 7,153,655 rather than the estimated headline. Percentages are the share of each queue waiting up to 18 weeks.

| name | waiting | pct18 | gt52 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trauma and Orthopaedic | 827,960 | 60.1 | 18,289 |
| Ophthalmology | 624,531 | 74.1 | 4,748 |
| Other - Medicals | 622,548 | 70.9 | 4,731 |
| Ear Nose and Throat | 594,331 | 58.9 | 12,682 |
| Gynaecology | 571,683 | 60.9 | 11,178 |
| Other - Surgicals | 467,527 | 66.1 | 6,595 |
| Dermatology | 384,201 | 67.2 | 4,410 |
| General Surgery | 381,497 | 62.7 | 7,090 |
| Cardiology | 378,421 | 68.3 | 2,849 |
| Urology | 378,077 | 64.7 | 5,117 |
| Gastroenterology | 370,047 | 69 | 3,328 |
| Other - Paediatrics | 322,761 | 68.3 | 4,148 |
| Oral Surgery | 321,311 | 55.4 | 7,414 |
| Neurology | 207,581 | 61.2 | 1,902 |
| Respiratory Medicine | 190,661 | 74.9 | 666 |
| Other - Others | 159,338 | 76.9 | 1,512 |
| Rheumatology | 117,953 | 70.5 | 1,107 |
| Plastic Surgery | 102,390 | 58.1 | 2,809 |
| Neurosurgical | 56,612 | 61.9 | 1,001 |

- **Basis note**: Excludes Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Torbay and South Devon (no May submission) and 30,578 non-contracted pathways.

## 18 week performance by integrated care board

The share of the list waiting up to 18 weeks in each of England's 36 integrated care boards, best to worst, on the same reported (no estimates) basis as the specialty table. Boards whose patients are treated by a non-reporting trust are understated accordingly.

| name | waiting | pct18 | gt52 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gloucestershire | 77,370 | 74.4 | 91 |
| Bristol, North Somerset And South Gloucestershire | 87,242 | 73.1 | 321 |
| North East And North Cumbria | 364,765 | 73 | 2,780 |
| Cornwall And The Isles Of Scilly | 63,322 | 72.3 | 668 |
| Shropshire, Telford And Wrekin | 66,437 | 70.8 | 245 |
| West Yorkshire | 241,702 | 70.6 | 1,803 |
| South Yorkshire | 109,208 | 69.5 | 1,564 |
| North East London | 251,863 | 67.6 | 2,714 |
| Birmingham And Solihull | 158,886 | 67.4 | 556 |
| South West London | 215,343 | 67.3 | 2,018 |
| South East London | 223,060 | 67.2 | 3,182 |
| West And North London | 492,069 | 67.1 | 4,311 |
| Somerset | 65,636 | 66.9 | 1,300 |
| Bath And North East Somerset, Swindon And Wiltshire | 112,741 | 66.4 | 1,286 |
| Dorset | 97,603 | 66.4 | 1,088 |
| Thames Valley | 227,744 | 66.3 | 2,411 |
| Staffordshire And Stoke-On-Trent | 142,562 | 65.6 | 2,270 |
| Lancashire And South Cumbria | 229,774 | 65.6 | 3,147 |
| Nottingham And Nottinghamshire | 124,596 | 65.5 | 2,469 |
| Cheshire And Merseyside | 334,293 | 65.2 | 4,092 |
| Kent And Medway | 237,902 | 64.9 | 3,650 |
| Black Country | 167,673 | 64.7 | 1,603 |
| Devon | 115,364 | 64.6 | 1,871 |
| Herefordshire And Worcestershire | 95,040 | 64.5 | 982 |
| Hampshire And Isle Of Wight | 212,982 | 64.3 | 4,795 |
| Central East | 400,572 | 64 | 4,298 |
| Greater Manchester | 407,664 | 63.7 | 5,913 |
| Derby And Derbyshire | 112,871 | 63.5 | 1,858 |
| Norfolk And Suffolk | 216,192 | 63.2 | 4,068 |
| Surrey And Sussex | 406,045 | 63.2 | 7,585 |
| Northamptonshire | 91,448 | 62.9 | 864 |
| Coventry And Warwickshire | 125,194 | 62.7 | 2,440 |
| Humber And North Yorkshire | 220,850 | 62.1 | 5,002 |
| Lincolnshire | 109,245 | 61.5 | 1,262 |
| Leicester, Leicestershire And Rutland | 132,064 | 60.3 | 2,775 |
| Essex | 285,616 | 56.3 | 13,063 |

## What this page can and cannot tell you

**Is the waiting list 7.3 million people?**

No. It is 7.3 million pathways. One person referred for a hip and a cataract is on two pathways. NHS England's own linkage puts the number of individual patients at around 6.2 million, and that estimate is published alongside the headline, not buried.

**Is the list falling?**

Slowly. It is 77,566 smaller than a year ago, 1.1 per cent, and has been drifting down since the September 2023 peak. At that pace, returning to the February 2020 size would take decades; the more achievable target being pursued is the 18 week share, which has risen 4.6 percentage points in a year.

**Why do different NHS waiting figures disagree?**

This page covers consultant led elective care in England only. Diagnostic tests, cancer pathways, mental health referrals and community services have separate waiting lists with separate standards, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish their own figures on different definitions. Adding any of them together produces a number no publisher stands behind.

**How solid are these numbers?**

Two acute trusts submitted nothing for May 2026, so NHS England estimates their contribution from their latest returns; this page uses those official estimates for headlines and the reported data for breakdowns, labelling each. Past months are also revised: the May release corrected December 2025 and March 2026 figures from two providers.


## Sources

- NHS England, Referral to Treatment (RTT) Waiting Times, May 2026 (overview timeseries including estimates for missing trusts; full CSV extract; statistical press notice), published 9 July 2026 (https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2026-27/) · Open Government Licence v3.0

## Caveats and data notes

- Pathways, not people. Around 6.2 million unique patients stand behind 7,278,384 pathways (85 pathways per 100 are distinct patients, from NHS England's waiting list minimum data set linkage taken on 30 June 2026).
- Headline figures include NHS England's estimates for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Torbay and South Devon, which did not submit May 2026 data. The specialty and ICB tables use reported data only and are labelled as such.
- The median (12.4 weeks) and 92nd percentile (38.6 weeks) waits do not include estimates for missing trusts; NHS England publishes them on the reported basis only.
- England only, consultant led elective care only. The four nations publish separate, non-comparable waiting lists, and diagnostics, cancer and mental health waits are separate series.
- From February 2024 community service pathways were removed from RTT reporting, a definitional break NHS England flags in the release; comparisons across that date slightly flatter the later figures.
- Figures are revised: the May 2026 release corrected December 2025 and March 2026 data from two providers. NHS England states the revisions have no significant national impact.
- The commissioner basis excludes 30,578 non-contracted pathways (commissioner code NONC); this exclusion is NHS England's own, and reproducing it is how this page's total reconciles exactly with the published figure.

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British Resilience Index, a non-partisan UK civic data project. Every figure is
reconciled to its primary official publisher before it is shown. Free to cite with
attribution: https://britishresilienceindex.com