NHS hits Streeting's hospital waiting-time target: 'We're right on track'
UK health secretary Wes Streeting said the National Health Service had hit the interim hospital waiting-time target his government set last year, citing England-wide figures for the period to the end of March 2026.
According to NHS England's monthly statistics, 65 per cent of patients referred for routine elective treatment began treatment within 18 weeks in March 2026, up from about 60 per cent a year earlier. The government's interim target had been a five-point rise within 18 months.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Streeting said the service was "right on track" while reminding listeners that the constitutional standard remains 92 per cent. "This is a milestone on the way to the constitutional standard. It is not the finish line, but it is movement in the right direction," he said.
NHS England said the number of patients waiting beyond 18 weeks had fallen by about 290,000 over the year. The total waiting list still stands at roughly 6.9 million. The share of patients waiting more than a year for routine care has fallen from 8 per cent to 5 per cent.
The South West, East of England and North East and Yorkshire were the three regions to meet the interim target most clearly. London and the North West remained below the national average, where rising demand for orthopaedic and ophthalmology treatment slowed progress.
The Conservative Party shadow health secretary called the announcement "partly welcome but framed out of context," noting that the five-point rise still includes a degree of post-pandemic baseline catch-up and arguing the more meaningful comparison would be against pre-2019 figures.
NHS unions responded cautiously. The Royal College of Nursing said nurse retention and staffing levels had not improved at the same pace, and that out-of-hours operating lists were not a permanent fix. The British Medical Association said the progress was "real but built on underinvested foundations."
A central plank of the recovery plan has been increased capacity bought from independent-sector providers. According to the NHS annual report, 11 per cent of elective cases in the year to March 2026 were treated by independent providers, up from 8 per cent the year before.
Streeting said the government would publish two further interim measures over the next 12 months: a cancer pathway target around the 28-day faster-diagnosis standard, and a four-hour assessment target for A&E. He said the cancer pathway target was expected to clear 80 per cent by January 2027.
The government's five-year plan aims to return the service to the 92 per cent constitutional standard by 2029. NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard said a sustainable path would depend on workforce growth and the digital appointments rollout, adding that capacity buying alone could not bridge the gap to the final target.