NHS waiting list down after three months of rises

The NHS waiting list in England has fallen after three months of consecutive rises.

At the end of September, it stood at 7.39 million, down from 7.41 million the month before.

Of those waiting, 61.8% of patients had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

That is the best performance for more than two years, but is well below the target of 92%, which the government has promised it will hit by the end of the parliament.

The NHS also released figures showing more than one million people came forward for flu jabs in the past week after a vaccination "SOS" was issued last week amid the early rise in flu cases this year.

Rates of flu are three times higher than there were at this stage last winter.

Some 14.4 million people have been vaccinated, NHS England said, which is slightly more than had been vaccinated at this stage last year.

The over 65s, those with certain health conditions, pregnant women and under 16s are all eligible for flu jabs on the NHS.

The rise in the waiting list over the summer - before this last month's drop - came after the waiting list had been falling consistently since Labour came into power.

The highest the waiting list reached was 7.7 million in September 2023.

NHS England medical director Prof Meghana Pandit said the drop in waiting lists was "fantastic news".

But she said it looked set to be a difficult winter which would see the NHS stretched to its "limits".

"Flu is peaking early and looking like it will be long lasting, while industrial action is starting on Friday."

A five-day walkout by resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors, begins at 07:00 GST on Friday.

It is the 13th walkout of the long-running dispute by the British Medical Association and comes after talks broke down last week between the doctors' union and government.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has called the actions of the BMA "morally reprehensible".

On the fall in the waiting list, Streeting said the investment being made was paying off.

He added: "There's a long way to go, but the NHS is now on the road to recovery."

Tim Gardner, of the Health Foundation think tank, said while the drop in the waiting list was welcome, there had been an increase in long waits in A&E.

"These figures present a challenging outlook for the NHS, particularly as it heads into what NHS leaders have warned is likely to be one of the toughest winters the health service has faced," he added.