Responding to the latest NHS monthly performance statistics, Tim Gardner, Assistant Director of Policy at the Health Foundation, said:
‘The latest NHS data reveal the significant toll winter has taken on the health service, with pressures felt most acutely in A&E.
‘The NHS reported 554,018 trolley waits of more than 12 hours in 2025, the highest number since current records began. This is a grim milestone and a sign of just how bad things have become for our emergency services. Behind each statistic is a patient waiting an unacceptably long time for the care they need, with staff delivering care in impossible conditions.
‘November saw a welcome fall in the waiting list for routine hospital treatment to 7.31 million and a substantial drop in the number of patients waiting over 52 weeks, despite industrial action by resident doctors. Nevertheless, the interim recovery targets set for March 2026 – a key marker of progress on the government’s pledge to restore the 18-week standard by 2029 – will remain difficult to meet.
‘These pressures expose the NHS’s fragility. While rising flu cases and cold weather have added to the strains on health services, the NHS has to be resilient enough to avoid patient care being severely disrupted by what has been a fairly typical winter. Even allowing for the additional impact of industrial action, the current situation exposes inherent weaknesses that have been building for years, including chronic workforce shortages and insufficient hospital and social care capacity.
‘What we are seeing now is largely the result of a decade of underinvestment, compounded by the pandemic. Achieving lasting improvements will require a concerted focus on addressing the root causes. Without this, we risk normalising delays that would have been unthinkable just 10 years ago.’
Media contact
Jessica Clinkett
jessica.clinkett@health.org.uk
020 7664 4647