The waiting list rose by 33,627 despite a record number of cancer checks and treatments being delivered, with 236,263 people receiving a cancer diagnosis or the disease ruled out within 28 days and 1.64m treatments delivered, up 2.6% on July 2024 (1.6m).

NHS Providers, Daniel Elkeles, said: ‘NHS staff are pulling out all the stops to deliver more tests, checks, and scans for patients, including for cancer care, but they're running just to stand still with waiting lists rising again, more people coming forward for planned care, and urgent and emergency services under relentless pressure all-year round.  

‘If we're going to make a real dent in waiting lists and get more patients seen faster, we need to change how to deliver healthcare. The shift to seeing patients closer to home and preventing sickness needs to happen quickly.'

Nuffield Trust deputy director of research, Sarah Scobie said: ‘Today's statistics are a stark reminder that despite the continued hard work of staff, the NHS is still struggling to keep up with demand.'

Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at The Health Foundation, said: ‘The NHS waiting list often increases at this time of year, but the Government is likely to be disappointed not to have made further progress on its commitment to ending hospital backlogs. While the NHS was able to maintain a relatively high volume of treatment in July, which included the five-day strike by resident doctors, this is the second consecutive month the waiting list has increased.

Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson Helen Morgan said: ‘The Government promised to go full throttle when it comes to cutting NHS waiting lists, instead they've gone into reverse.

‘Only by urgently tackling the crisis in social care can we unclog the system and bring and end to this era of sky-high waiting lists.'