NHS waiting list rises to 7.37 million as A&Es log busiest September on record

NHS England's monthly performance data, published on 8 October 2026, show the routine hospital waiting list rising for a second consecutive month while A&E and ambulance services recorded their busiest September on record ¹. The waiting list stood at an estimated 7.37 million treatments for 6.24 million patients at the end of August, the highest figure since October 2025 ¹.

What the figures show

Elective activity reached a new high over the summer. Across June, July and August the NHS in England delivered 4.7 million planned treatments, procedures and appointments, more than in any earlier summer ¹. Demand grew faster. Referrals onto the waiting list are rising more quickly than the number of patients treated, according to Health Foundation analysis reported alongside the data ¹.

Urgent care is already under strain before winter has properly begun:

• 74.4% of A&E patients were seen within four hours in September, compared with 75.0% in August ¹.

• 50,582 patients waited more than 12 hours between a decision to admit and admission in September, up from 44,951 in August ¹.

• The Society for Acute Medicine put the year-on-year rise in these 12-hour waits at 13%, or 1,686 people a day ¹.

Professor Frankie Swords, NHS England's national medical director, said staff were seeing more patients than usual for the time of year arrive at A&E with flu and other respiratory viruses ¹. Dr Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the figures "should set alarm bells ringing" ¹.

What it means for the market

The central consequence is for the government's target of treating 92% of patients within 18 weeks by 2029. The NHS Alliance, which represents trusts, says the government will not meet that manifesto commitment by the end of the parliament ¹. The 18-week standard has not been met for a decade ¹. Francesca Cavallaro of the Health Foundation said the service is "having to run faster just to stand still" ¹. She added that Andy Burnham's government has not yet said whether the target will keep the priority it had under Keir Starmer ¹.

For trusts and the suppliers that sell to them, this sets the terms of the next few months. Record elective throughput has not reduced the backlog, so the case for anything that adds capacity or productivity is getting stronger, while operational pressure on emergency departments limits the time trusts have to adopt new systems. The government says the 18-week target can still be reached and points to its investment in NHS buildings and equipment to raise productivity ¹. It also cites disruption from the resident doctors' strikes, a dispute that has since been settled ¹.

Caveats

These are a single month's figures for England only, and the waiting list data run to the end of August rather than September ¹. The article does not set out how much of the rise reflects referrals from new demand rather than earlier disruption. Health and Social Care Secretary Yvette Cooper said pressure on the NHS is set to increase again as winter approaches, and urged everyone eligible to take up the flu jab and other vaccines ¹.