NHS meets four-hour A&E target for first time as overall wait list unchanged
The number of patients waiting more than a year for treatment was also its lowest since December 2020, NHS England said.
NHS England has met its new four-hour A&E wait time target for the first time since it was brought in, new data has revealed.
It comes after figures showed the overall waiting list for treatment remained unchanged in July, although waits of more than a year fell to their lowest since December 2020.
The number of people waiting at least four hours in emergency departments in England, from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, fell to 116,489 in August, down from 129,330 in July and the lowest figure for 13 months.
In December 2022, the NHS recovery plan set the ambition of March this year for 76% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, replacing the 95% target.
The new target was met for the first time last month, with 76.3% of patients seen within the timeframe, up from 75.2% in July and the highest level since August 2021.
New guidance has since increased the target to 78% by March 2025.
The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E also fell to 28,494 in August, down from 36,806 in July and the lowest figure for 12 months.
In June, July and August, there were 6.8 million attendances at emergency departments, according to NHS England, up 240,776 compared to the summer of 2023.
Elsewhere, an estimated 7.62 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of July, relating to 6.39 million patients.
The figure was unchanged, following three consecutive monthly increases.
Some 290,326 people had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment, down from 302,693 at the end of June and the lowest level since December 2020, NHS England said.
Patients waiting more than 65 weeks to start treatment also fell to 50,860 to 58,024, although the number of people waiting 18 months increased to 2,738 in July from 2,621 in June.
The target to eliminate all waits of more than a year has been set for March 2025, while the target of ending waits of 18 months was April 2023, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.
The target to eliminate waits of more than than 65 weeks is now September 2024, having previously been March 2024.
The 75% cancer diagnosis target was also exceeded for the fifth time since its introduction in the autumn of 2021, with 76.2% of patients in England urgently referred for suspected cancer in July diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days.
The figure is down slightly from 76.3% in the previous month.
GPs in England made 286,720 urgent cancer referrals in July, up from 259,681 in June and also up year on year from 263,897 in July 2023.
The proportion of patients in England who had waited no longer than 62 days in July from an urgent suspected cancer referral or consultant upgrade to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 67.7%, up slightly from 67.4% in June.
The target is 85%.
The latest NHS performance data comes after a damning report from Lord Darzi found the health service is “in serious trouble”.
The rapid review, which was commissioned in July, argues that people are living longer in ill health and struggle to see their GP, while a “surge” in multiple long-term conditions has put a strain on services.
The report also said “long waits have become normalised”, cancer care lags being other countries, and describes A&E as being “in an awful state”.
Dr Nick Murch, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the new NHS figures “demonstrate the scale of the short-term challenge”.
“The improvement in A&E performance is testament to the hard work of clinical and operation colleagues working tirelessly under significant pressure,” he added.
“However, the strain suggests the challenges this winter will again be extreme – with more than 28,000 patients waiting more than 12 hours in emergency departments during the summer months an indication of what is ahead.”
Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at think tank the Health Foundation, said: “Lord Darzi’s diagnosis and the new figures published today lay bare the consequences of a decade of underinvestment in the NHS and the immense challenge for the new Government in reversing the NHS’ decline.”
Mr Gardner added that ministers will “need to be realistic”.
“The Government has pledged to get the NHS back on its feet but it will need to be realistic about the scale of reform and investment that is required.
“We need to shift more resources towards primary care and community-based services, NHS buildings and equipment must be modernised, and technology must be harnessed to improve care for patients. Only then will we make the NHS fit for the future.”
The health service said it is preparing for what it expects to be “an extremely difficult” winter amid concerns of a “tripledemic” of Covid-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director at NHS England, said: “The NHS has just come out of the busiest summer on record for A&Es across the country, and preparations are already underway for what is expected to be an extremely difficult winter with significant strain on urgent and emergency care.
“NHS staff are preparing for additional pressure over the winter, but we are concerned about seasonal viruses and a potential “tripledemic” putting extra strain on already very busy services.
“Vaccination is crucial to preparation, with the first ever campaign for RSV already underway alongside covid and flu jab rollouts for those most at risk of serious illness.”
Rory Deighton, director of the NHS Confederation’s acute network, also warned “positive signs of progress could easily be lost” in winter.
“These figures reinforce just how much pressure the NHS is under and just how hard staff are working to improve performance and provide the best care possible for patients,” he said.
“Despite A&Es seeing their busiest summer on record more patients are being seen within the four-hour target, trolley waits have fallen in recent months and fewer people are waiting longer than 12 hours. Ambulance response times have also improved.
“But patients are still waiting too long, and these positive signs of progress could easily be lost if the NHS does not have the support and resources to cope with what could be a very difficult winter.”
