The overall backlog dropped from 7.48m to 7.46m, while the estimated number of patients waiting fell from 6.28m to 6.24m, NHS England revealed.

Health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said: ‘Through the Prime Minister's Plan for Change, the Government has already cut NHS waiting lists by almost 160,000 since July, through a combination of investment and reform.

‘As we work to end the misery of people left stranded on NHS waiting lists, we will also continue to address the issues facing our A&E departments.'

Streeting said the Government would soon be publishing a plan to improve urgent and emergency care services.

Treatments were 4% up on 2023 (17.35 million) and 5% more than in 2019 (17.1 million). There were 1.33m treatments in December, up 6.5% on 1.25m on the year before.

The proportion waiting less than 18 weeks was 58.9%, up from 56.6% in December 2023, but well below the target of returning to the 92% constitutional standard by March 2029 and 65% by March 2026.

The number waiting more than a year for treatment fell to 200,375 making up just 2.7% of the overall waiting list – the lowest proportion since August 2020.

The NHS also delivered more than 28.3m tests and checks in 2024 - a record year - up a fifth on 23.6m in 2019 and up 7% on 26.5m in 2023. NHS staff delivered 2.24m checks in December alone, up 21% on 1.85m in 2019.

Cancer care

The NHS met the faster diagnosis standard in December with 78.1% of people receiving the all clear or a definitive diagnosis. There were 20,000 more people diagnosed or given the all clear within the standard compared to the same month last year (190,571 in December 2024, compared to 170,155 in December 2023).

In 2024 there were 3.12m urgent referrals for suspected cancer, a 4% increase compared to 2.99m in 2023 and more than double the number a decade ago with 1.5m urgent GP referrals in 2014.

Over seven in 10 people were treated within the 62-day target – the highest on record since standards changed in October 2023.

A&E

Despite winter pressures, 73% of patients were seen within four hours in A&E in January up on 71.1% month-on-month and 70.4% year-on-year.

Ambulance response times across all categories were also improved on both last month and last January.

Response 

Nuffield Trust deputy director of research Sarah Scobie said it was ‘enouraging' that waiting lists fell on November but cautioned this could be due to December being a quieter month for referrals.

Scobie highlighted how 61,529 people spent more than 12 hours on trolleys in January with patients with emergencies such as strokes waiting an average of 35 minutes and 40 seconds above the 30 minute target for 2025/26. 

Tim Gardner, assistant director of Policy at The Health Foundation, said: ‘It's vital that the Government's forthcoming 10-Year Health Plan and Spending Review provides the right mix of reform and investment to create a more resilient NHS that's fit for the future. Winter pressures are inevitable, an annual NHS crisis is not.'

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive, NHS Providers, said the NHS was ‘bringing down waiting lists and treating record numbers of people including more checks, tests and cancer results as trust leaders and staff continue to do all they can to see patients as quickly as possible'.

She said the ‘relentless pressure can take a toll on hospital, mental health, community and ambulance service staff', highlighting how anxiety, stress, depression and other psychiatric illnesses accounted for more than a quarter (27%) of all sickness.

Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson Helen Morgan said the Government's ‘lack of urgency in gripping this crisis is inexcusable'.

Morgan added: ‘Without fixing social care we will just see this cycle of misery repeat itself year after year.

‘This winter has shown that patients cannot wait another three years for action. The Government must complete its social care review within the next year at the very latest. Only with a functioning care system can we get people out of hospital beds, relieve the pressure on A&Es, and ensure everyone gets the care they deserve.'