Is there progress on NHS waiting lists?published at 13:02 GMT

13:02 GMT

Phil Leake and Christine Jeavans
BBC Verify

The NHS waiting list for planned treatment in England fell to 7.39 million procedures in September, down by almost 16,000 since August.

This ended a run of three consecutive monthly rises since May, when the waiting list stood at 7.36 million. Of those waiting, 61.8% had been on the list for fewer than 18 weeks, which is the highest figure for more than three years but still below the NHS target of 92% and the government’s interim goal of 65% by March 2026.

Every NHS trust in England has an individual target to reach by next March, with each one needing to see 60% of patients within 18 weeks or improve on their November 2024 figure by five percentage points, whichever is greater.

Trusts began officially working towards their targets in April 2025 so September marks the halfway point.Of the 135 trusts that had at least 5,000 waits for planned treatment last November, 98 had improved, 36 were doing the same or worse and one – Sheffield Hospitals NHS Trust – did not submit data for September.

Only 24 trusts were meeting their March 2026 target according to the latest figures.

Find out whether waiting times are getting better near you with our NHS tracker.

Is there progress on NHS waiting lists? Phil Leake and Christine Jeavans The NHS waiting list for planned treatment in England fell to 7.39 million procedures in September, down by almost 16,000 since August. This ended a run of three consecutive monthly rises since May, when the waiting list stood at 7.36 million. Of those waiting, 61.8% had been on the list for fewer than 18 weeks, which is the highest figure for more than three years but still below the NHS target of 92% and the government’s interim goal of 65% by March 2026. Every NHS trust in England has an individual target to reach by next March, with each one needing to see 60% of patients within 18 weeks or improve on their November 2024 figure by five percentage points, whichever is greater. Trusts began officially working towards their targets in April 2025 so September marks the halfway point. Of the 135 trusts that had at least 5,000 waits for planned treatment last November, 98 had improved, 36 were doing the same or worse and one - Sheffield Hospitals NHS Trust - did not submit data for September. Only 24 trusts were meeting their March 2026 target according to the latest figures. Find out whether waiting times are getting better near you with our NHS tracker. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq53qx2vg6jo] ![](https://paper-attachments.dropboxusercontent.com/s_33A975322DD35F1378559E40AF62B8C0603F2872A961EE7EB784777570FABC67_1763037690008_rtt_england_area_20251113-nc.png) Alt text: A chart shows the NHS waiting list in England from August 2007 to September 2025. It starts at just over 4 million and falls to just over 2m at the beginning of 2009. Waits rise to over 4m just before the Covid pandemic and then fall during the lockdowns, before rising sharply and reaching a peak of 7.67m in July 2023. Since then they have come down to 7.36m in May 2025 but have since gone back up to 7.39m as of September. 4.6m waits are less than less than 18 weeks, 2.6m are 18-52 weeks and the remaining 180,000 are over 52 weeks.