November saw the second biggest drop in the waiting list for 15 years outside of the early days of the pandemic, as new data today shows staff faced record demand in 2025.
The waiting list fell by more than 86,000 in November to 7.31 million – and the milestone comes a year since the publication of the Elective Reform Plan.
The progress came despite the NHS’s busiest ever year, with 27.8 million A&E attendances in 2025 – up by over 367,000 on 2024, with 2.33 million attendances in December alone.
Separate figures show hospitals are continuing to battle the impact of flu, with an average of 2,725 patients in hospital with the virus each day last week along with a 57% rise in norovirus cases – leaving bosses warning that the health service is “still in the thick of winter”.
The NHS saw the highest ever number of ambulance incidents in December (846,263), taking the total number for 2025 to 9.31 million – another record year, and around 1,000 a day (365,174) more than the previous year (8.95 million).
Demand at A&Es remained high in December as winter pressures took hold, but NHS staff continued to see patients quicker. 73.8% of patients were seen within the 4-hour A&E target – 50,000 higher than a year earlier.
In the year since the Elective Reform Plan was launched, work to cut waiting lists includes creating more evening and weekend clinics, new and expanded community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs, crack teams of experts being sent to 20 hospital trusts across England with the highest levels of economic inactivity, and cutting unnecessary appointments by sending patients “straight to test” rather than multiple clinic visits.
Hardworking NHS staff carried out 2.45 million tests and checks in November, while there were fewer cases where patients were waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment (2.79 million in November 2025 versus 3.1 million in 2024).
Progress continued on cancer care, as 76.5% of people got the all-clear or a cancer diagnosis within 4 weeks of an urgent referral.
Meanwhile, weekly data shows the average number of patients in hospital with norovirus each day last week rose by 57% to 567.
Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS National Medical Director, said: “NHS staff have worked incredibly hard to shrink down the waiting list while seeing a record surge in patients last year.
“Thanks to the elective reform plan, thousands more patients got a faster diagnosis and received quicker treatment or the all-clear over the last 12 months.
“This is despite services facing consistently high levels of pressure and experiencing another record year for A&E and ambulances.
“While it’s positive that the number of flu cases in hospital is falling, this comes after a rise following the festive period – leaving bed occupancy very high at 94.1%, so it is clear we are still in the thick of winter.
“It is important that patients continue to only use 999 and A&E in life-threatening emergencies and use NHS 111 and 111 online for other conditions, as well as using your local GP and pharmacy services in the usual way.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “For too long, patients were promised change in the NHS but saw little of it. This government is turning promises into change people can actually feel.
“Waiting lists are down by more than 312,000 and more patients are being treated within 18 weeks. November saw the second biggest monthly drop in waiting lists in 15 years. That means faster care, less anxiety for families and people back on their feet and back to work.
“This is the result of record investment and modernisation, alongside the hard work of NHS staff. We’re delivering more evening and weekend appointments, tests closer to home, surgical hubs cutting backlogs, and smarter use of technology.
“Winter pressures remain high and there’s far more to do. We’ll keep backing NHS staff to make sure patients get the care they need, when they need it.”