NHS Activity Tracker: February 2026

On the second Thursday of the month, NHS England publish data relating to demand, activity, waiting times and national performance against constitutional standards and recovery targets across the secondary care sector. Each month, we'll take a more detailed look at national and trust level data across the acute, ambulance, community and mental health sectors. Over the winter months, we also take a look at winter pressures in our Winter section. 

This most recent data shows high levels of demand across multiple sectors: A&E experienced record levels of attendances and 12-hour waits, the ambulance service saw the busiest January on record for ambulance incidents, and mental health saw record levels of people in contact with services. In addition to this, winter pressures are continuing; despite falling virus levels, bed occupancy remains high. However, positive steps were shown in the elective care waiting list. 

Please note that these are national averages and there is considerable regional variation in these metrics.

Key points

• A&E: There were 2.32 million A&E attendances this month, which is the highest January on record. Overall performance against the 4-hour target was 72.5% but was much lower for type one and two departments (58.1%). 12-hour waits (for both decision to admit to admission, and waits from arrival) hit record levels.
  
  
• Ambulance: There were 837,464 ambulance incidents this month, the highest January figure on record. Response times for both category 1 and category 2 were faster than last year but fell short of their respective targets.
  
  
• Winter: Data from the winter sitrep up to the first week of January shows that virus levels are decreasing, but bed occupancy remains high, exceeding both NICE and NHS planning guidance targets.
  
  
• Cancer: Performance against standards dipped on the 28-day pathway compared with last year, but improved slightly on the 31-day and 62-day pathways.
  
  
• Diagnostics: 2.37 million diagnostic tests were carried out this month. The diagnostic waiting list reached 1.74 million.
  
  
• Elective waiting list: The size of the waiting list decreased to 7.29 million in December. This is far lower than the 7.46 million in December 2024. 1.43 million cases were managed on the waiting list this month, but 1.64 million new cases were added and thus demand continues to outpace activity.
  
  
• Community: The total reported community services waiting list in England had been falling for several months, but increased to 1.15 million in December. One in four children and young people wait over 52 weeks for community services, and 8.8% wait over 104 weeks.
  
  
• Mental health: 2.19 million people were in contact with mental health services at the end of December, the highest figure on record. In the 12 months to December 2025, a record-breaking 863,472 children and young people accessed mental health services.