The NHS has remained under ‘relentless pressure’ over the summer, despite it often being a time for the NHS to ‘catch its breath’, according to the Health Foundation.
The latest NHS performance statistics showed that the waiting list for NHS treatment has increased slightly in June (by 9,712) to 7.37 million. In 191,813 of these cases the patient has been waiting more than 52 weeks.
However, there were also 103,563 (2%) more treatments delivered in June 2025 compared to the same month last year, with the proportion of patients waiting less than 18 weeks for treatment at 61.5%, which is the highest proportion since June 2022.
The Health Foundation’s assistant director of policy, Tim Gardner, said: ‘While summer is often a time for the NHS to catch its breath, today’s data shows hospitals and ambulance services remain under relentless pressure.
‘July brought modest improvements in A&E waiting times and ambulance response times, but performance is still well below NHS constitutional standards, and many patients are waiting far too long for treatment.’
He added that there was a small fall in the waiting times for routine hospital treatment in June. However, that the impact of waiting lists was ‘felt more acutely in the most deprived communities’.
‘The slight improvements seen this summer offer a glimmer of hope. However, the commitment to tackling waiting lists needs to ensure that more timely treatment becomes a reality for every patient, regardless of where they live,’ he said.
Nuffield Trust director of research and policy, Dr Becks Fisher, said: ‘The reported numbers on the planned treatment waiting list only show part of the picture.
‘Our new analysis shows that waiting list reductions in previous months are not wholly due to increases in appointments being delivered. In fact, the NHS is still treating fewer patients than are being referred. But, an average of about 245,000 cases have been coming off the list each month due to reasons other than patients being recorded as getting their treatment.
‘Doing this work to improve the accuracy of the waiting list is important, but we should be under no illusions that despite delivering more appointments, the NHS is still not meeting patient demand.’
In separate data, NHS England recorded the amount of activity during the resident doctor strike between 25-30 July, finding that more care was delivered in the July 2025 industrial action compared to the five-day strike in June 2024. It estimated that an additional 11,071 appointments and procedures went ahead despite the strike.
Staff absence was also lower during this strike, with around 1,243 fewer staff (7.5%) absent per day on average compared to last June.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘A year ago, we promised 2 million more appointments. 1 year on, we have delivered almost an extra 5 million appointments. As a result, today’s figures show that – despite record numbers of people coming forward for treatment – we are cutting waiting times, with the lowest number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment in 3 years.
‘Today’s data also shows the health service was more resilient against last month’s strike action than ever before. I want to thank NHS staff for delivering 11,000 more appointments and procedures for patients compared to previous strikes. We are getting on with the job of delivering progress in the face of strike action, and we will continue to put patients first.’
He added: ‘I had a constructive conversation with the BMA last week and I am glad they’ve agreed to continue engagement through the summer with the mutual aim of preventing further disruption to the NHS and patients.’
It comes as a survey earlier this month suggested that GPs were struggling with their workload more than other doctor groups.
