Nearly 42million sufferers waited too lengthy for hospital remedy as NHS missed key goal for a decade

Nearly 42 million patients have waited too long for hospital treatment as the NHS has now missed a key target for a decade – despite Labour boasts that waiting lists are falling.

Patient groups warn the ‘sobering milestone’ – with 120 consecutive months of failure – represents ten years of ‘pain, anxiety and deteriorating health’.

Hospitals are supposed to treat 92 per cent of patients within 18 weeks of a referral from a GP but this has not been achieved nationally in any month since February 2016.

The latest data, for February this year, is due to be published on Thursday but health chiefs admit they have zero chance of making the mark, with recent performance hovering around 61 per cent.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has vowed to achieve the target within this parliament and today boasted in a speech that waiting lists are overall at their ‘lowest level for three years’.

He also told the IPPR think tank that ‘four-hour waiting times in A&E this winter were the best for four years and ambulances are arriving faster than for half a decade.’

But an average of 504,000 patients a month have crossed the 18-week threshold since Labour came to power in July 2024 – a total of 9.6 million on his watch.

Meanwhile, the average monthly figure under the Conservatives over the rest of the decade was 316,000, with the number climbing steeply post-pandemic, according to analysis conducted for the Daily Mail.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has vowed to achieve the referral to treatment target within this parliament.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, described the decade milestone as ‘sobering’.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: ‘These figures mark a sobering milestone that the NHS Constitution standard continues to be missed, and that it has now been ten years since the 18-week referral to treatment target was last met.

‘For patients, that is not a statistic, it’s a decade of pain, anxiety, and deteriorating health.

‘Patients are waiting far, far longer than they should and often in pain, unable to plan their lives, and unsure when they will receive care.

‘One patient told us the wait “impacts my home life, work life and my mental health – yet there is no rush”, while another described it as “traumatic” and like “hitting a brick wall”.

‘Patients deserve the care they were promised.’

In the five years to February 2016, 4.4million patient pathways breached the 18 week target, according to waiting list expert Rob Findlay, of Insource Ltd.

That was the last time the 92 per cent target was met.

However, in the five years to January 2026, this had soared to 28.2million – 6.4 times more.

Bea Taylor, a fellow at the Nuffield Trust health think tank, said long waits for care can feel like an eternity.

In total, 41.7 million people waited more than 18 weeks for hospital treatment after referral over the last decade.

As of the end of January, there were 6.13million patients waiting for 7.25million treatments, of which 2.79million had been waiting over 18 weeks and 136,000 over a year.

Bea Taylor, a fellow at the Nuffield Trust health think tank, said: ‘For several years, the length of time that many people have been kept waiting for planned NHS care has been far longer than anyone would like it to be.

‘When a patient is waiting in pain for their treatment any delay can feel like an eternity, so it’s really important that the NHS gets back to delivering care within the time frames it is aiming for.

‘The proportion of patients being treated within 18 weeks of referral was in decline for years before the pandemic triggered a huge drop off that the NHS has struggled to recover from.

‘The decline has been halted, but a return to 92 per cent of patients being treated within 18 weeks is a mountain to climb for a health service under many competing pressures.’

It comes as new polling for the Independent Healthcare Providers Network found fewer than four in ten (38 per cent) people have confidence they would be treated in a timely manner if they needed routine care, such as a hip or knee replacement.

And 74 per cent say meeting the 18-week referral to treatment target should be a priority even if the NHS is under significant financial pressure, according to the survey of 2,255 people by Savanta.

David Hare, chief executive of the IHPN, said private healthcare providers remain ready to help the NHS cut waiting lists.

David Hare, chief executive of the IHPN, a trade body for private healthcare providers, said his members remain ‘fully committed’ to helping the NHS slash waits and had removed 1.6million people from waiting lists last year alone.

Rory Deighton, acute care director at The NHS Alliance, which represents healthcare organisations, said: ‘With money tight, returning to the 18-week standard will take more than just increasing activity – it requires smarter use of NHS capacity and getting patients faster access to advice, tests or treatment in the right place.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘In the face of record demand, we have cut NHS waiting lists to the lowest level in three years, delivered the best A&E performance in four years and the fastest ambulance response times in half a decade.

‘We are still committed to hitting 92 per cent by the end of the parliament and know we have some way to go to fully turn around the broken health service we inherited, but we have wasted no time in putting the NHS on the road to recovery as we build an NHS fit for the future.’