NHS faces record summer demand as treatment backlog grows

NHS England recorded nearly 7.3 million A&E attendances between June and August, the highest summer total reported. The figure was almost 1 million above the equivalent period in 2022, when 6.4 million attendances were recorded.

Ambulance services handled about 2.4 million callouts over the same period, also a summer record. Health officials have linked the pressure on services to a series of heatwaves, although the figures supplied do not establish that extreme heat caused the increase in demand.

The routine hospital treatment waiting list in England rose from 7.27 million treatments in June to an estimated 7.33 million at the end of July, covering 6.21 million patients. The July total was the highest since October 2025.

An estimated 111,379 people had been waiting more than a year to begin routine treatment at the end of July, up from 105,711 a month earlier. The proportion of patients beginning treatment within 18 weeks fell from 65.8 per cent in June to 65.4 per cent in July, though it remained above the 65 per cent target set for March.

Corridor care averaged 2,973 patients a day in August, including 2,296 in A&E departments and 677 elsewhere in hospitals. The figures underline the operational strain facing the service as it moves towards winter after a sustained period of high demand.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England said the government’s target for 92 per cent of patients to begin routine treatment within 18 weeks by July 2029 was unlikely to be met if improvement continued at its current pace.