Waiting times data show that overall waiting lists have increased, triggering warnings that NHS infrastructure needs to be modernised to bring them down.

The latest NHS consultant-led Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting times data, for May, show that just 65.6% of patients started treatment within 18 weeks. The NHS aims for 92% of patients to receive treatment within 18 weeks by 2029.

Meanwhile, the overall waiting list has increased, now totalling 7.3 million. It was reported that in 104,734 cases, patients had waited more than 52 weeks for treatment. 

The NHS maintenance backlog alone has reached £15.9 billion, drawing attention to how much investment is needed to modernise buildings and tackle overdue repairs within the healthcare system. 

The new RTT data also comes shortly after the government published its 10 Year Capital Plan, setting out how funding announced in 2025’s Spending Review will be used. It had announced a £2.3 billion real-terms increase (£4 billion cash increase) in the department of health and social care’s annual capital budget between 2023/24 and 2029/30 to support NHS investment. This included new technology, hospitals and primary care, to deliver “the largest ever health capital budget”.

“While there has been progress in reducing the longest waits overall, too many patients are still waiting longer than the NHS’s 18-week standard for the surgery they need,” stressed Frank Smith, vice president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

He added how this modernising of NHS infrastructure is essential to bring down waiting times, with hospitals unable to wait much longer for the modern theatres, equipment and technology surgeons and patients need.

Waiting list hospital

Responses on the ground

Healix Health, a healthcare solution provider, recently published its Hidden Workplace Healthcare Gap report. This found that nearly a third (30%) of 18 to 24-year-old workers said their health worsened while waiting for care in the past year, and more than a third (36%) had taken additional time off as a result.

Its director of corporate proposition, Sarah Taylor, warned that NHS waiting times are a “workforce issue”, not solely a healthcare one. 

“When people are left waiting for care, symptoms can worsen, day-to-day life becomes harder, and work is often affected too,” she added. 

Similarly, health insurance provider The Exeter’s latest Health and Finance Tracker shows how a third of UK adults are still unsure whether the NHS could fully meet their needs if they became ill. The company noted that this naturally feeds into more private healthcare usage, but head of healthcare proposition Dawn Prescott noted that “private and public are increasingly working side-by-side to give people more choice and quicker access to the care they need.”

The Independent Healthcare Providers Network also issued a recent report showing that only a third of GPs discuss with patients the different options of where they can be treated. However, this is often down to practical barriers rather than choice.

“While there’s no one silver bullet to clearing the backlog of NHS care, making use of all available capacity in the health service and giving patients real choice over where they receive their care will be key, with research showing that NHS patients are often able to cut more than two and a half months off their waiting time by choosing an alternative provider,” added its chief executive David Hare.

Various commentators have shared NHS waiting list fix ideas with Healthcare Today, including on why referral triage should move centre stage.