The news combined with today's prediction by The Health Foundation that the key 18-week elective care target will be missed, will fuel fears the Government has lost control of NHS waiting lists.

Health and social care secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: ‘Our NHS is dealing with summer pressures now as well as winter pressures. So it is a huge tribute to doctors, nurses and staff across the NHS that alongside dealing with unprecedented levels of A&E attendances and ambulance call-outs, they also managed to deliver record numbers of elective appointments, procedures and treatments.'

Last month saw the busiest September ever for patients attending A&E (2.44m) and the highest number of ambulance incidents ever recorded for the month of September (806,707).

A record 4.7m planned treatments, procedures and appointments occurred across June, July and August.

Key cancer waiting times for getting a confirmed diagnosis and starting treatment during August were all improved on the same month last year (28-day diagnosis and 31 and 62-day targets for starting treatment).

NHS England warned winter pressures were already building in September, however, with 94.9% of acute hospital beds for adults on average occupied – up from 94.3% in August 2026 and 94.7% last September – with over 13,600 adult patients in hospital beds per day in September who were medically fit to be discharged (13,647).

Reaction

Professor Peter Sagar, vice-president of the RCS England, said: ‘To keep bringing waiting lists down, the NHS needs continued investment in its surgical workforce, hospitals and treatment capacity. The Government must keep its foot on the pedal if it is to deliver lasting progress in reducing waiting times. The Budget is an opportunity to set out how it will provide the NHS with the extra capacity and resources needed to do this. This is vital to ensuring patients receive timely care and see lasting improvements in services.'

Tim Gardner, deputy director of policy at The Health Foundation, said: ‘With a Budget and a new Ten Year Plan for Government coming in the Autumn, ministers need to confront difficult choices. A decision is needed on whether to continue chasing the headline pledge on waiting lists or to set a more realistic goal and broaden the focus to other key aspects of care that matter to patients and the public, including waiting times in A&E, access to general practice and improving maternity care.'

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King's Fund, said: ‘The challenge this Government faces is marrying this greater focus on prevention with what was promised in the 2024 Labour manifesto, where its main priorities centred on waiting times and increasing access to care. The Government will have to break its silence soon on how it plans to deliver these existing waiting time pledges, if indeed it believes it still can, and its commitment to deliver long term improvements in the health of the nation.'  

Chief executive of The NHS Alliance, Sir Ciarán Devane, said: ‘The NHS is just about holding up, but we must recognise that the hard-fought gains of the last two years cannot be taken for granted.

‘NHS leaders are having to deliver very challenging savings whilst balancing the need to meet soaring demand for services and stay on top of waiting times. The emerging high levels of flu and respiratory illness alongside high bed occupancy is creating one of the most challenging backdrops going into winter the NHS has seen for a number of years.'