Long waits for hospital treatment have increased while nearly 3,000 patients a day are receiving corridor care, though waiting times for cancer referrals have improved.

Here, the Press Association highlights the key numbers and trends in the latest hospital performance figures from NHS England:

The waiting list for routine hospital treatment has risen to its highest level for nine months.

An estimated 7.33 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of July, relating to 6.21 million patients.

This is up from 7.27 million treatments and 6.15 million patients at the end of June.

The numbers are the highest since October 2025, when the list stood at 7.40 million treatments and 6.24 million patients.

The list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.

Some 65.4% of patients in July began hospital treatment within 18 weeks of referral, down from 65.8% in June but above the target of 65% that the Government and NHS England had set for March of this year.

The new target is 70%, which has been set for March 2027.

The Government has also pledged that 92% of patients in England will begin treatment within 18 weeks by the end of the current Parliament in 2029.

– Long waits for treatment

An estimated 111,379 people had been waiting more than a year to start routine treatment at the end of July, up from 105,711 at the end of June.

The number waiting more than 65 weeks has also increased month on month, from 7,831 to 9,095, as has the number waiting more than 18 months, from 1,099 to 1,494.

Some 1.52% of people on the list for hospital treatment had been waiting more than 52 weeks in July, up month on month from 1.45%.

The Government and NHS England had set a target of March this year for the figure to be reduced to less than 1%.

An average of 2,973 patients in England received corridor care each day in August, with 2,296 in A&E departments and 677 in other hospital areas.

This is down slightly from an average of 3,028 patients per day in July, made up of 2,300 in A&Es and 728 in other areas.

Data for corridor care in hospitals in England has been published since May this year, meaning four months of figures are available.

The total has remained broadly level across this period, at between 2,900 and 3,200 patients.

The figures cover patients who have been receiving corridor care for at least 45 minutes.

A patient is classed as receiving corridor care if their treatment does not take place in a clinically appropriate and safe setting.

The criteria used for defining an appropriate setting include at-bed services such as oxygen and call bells; whether privacy can be maintained; access to food, water and toilets; and whether lights can be turned off and noise levels minimised to allow sleep.

– Accident & emergency attendances

A record 7.27 million people visited A&E departments in England across the summer months of June, July and August.

This is up from 7.03 million in summer 2025 and almost one million higher than the figure for summer 2022, which was 6.37 million.

There were 2.34 million attendances in August – again, a record for the month.

Some 75.0% of patients were seen within four hours in A&Es in August, down from 75.4% in July.

The Government and NHS England have set a target of March 2027 for every NHS trust to reach 82% by March 2027.

A total of 79.3% of patients in England urgently referred for suspected cancer were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days in July.

This is up slightly from 79.0% in June but is below the target of 80%.

The proportion of patients who began their first definitive treatment for cancer in July within 62 days of an urgent referral or consultant upgrade was 71.2%, up from 69.9% in June.

The Government and NHS England have set a target of March 2027 for every NHS trust to reach 80% for the 62-day measure.

The average response time in August for ambulances dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was seven minutes and 56 seconds.

This is down from eight minutes in July, but is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.

Ambulances took an average of 28 minutes and 52 seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis.

This is down from 29 minutes and 49 seconds in July.

The Government and NHS England have set a target for this figure to average 25 minutes across 2026/27.

The average currently stands at 29 minutes.

Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged one hour, 47 minutes and 29 seconds in August, down from one hour, 51 minutes and 27 seconds in July.