NHS Activity Tracker: March 2026

Acute sector

There were 2.12 million A&E attendances this month, compared with 2.32 million in January. This value stood at 2.09 million in February 2025. This is shown in Figure 1.
74.1% of patients were seen within four hours, compared with 72.5% in January. Performance was above February 2025 (73.4%) but below the 78% aim set for March 2026 in the 2025/26 planning guidance.
New, experimental data on performance in type 1 and 2 A&E departments shows that 60.3% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, which is notably lower than the overall four-hour performance.

Figure 1
Total A&E attendances

There were 493,015 emergency admissions, compared with 496,095 in February 2025.

54,649 patients waited at least 12 hours from the decision to admit to admission, compared with 47,623 in February 2025.

150,064 patients waited more than 12 hours from arrival at a type 1 & 2 A&E in February, compared with 148,313 in February 2025.
Waits of over 12 hours in A&E occurred 11.3% of the time, falling short of the 10% aim outlined in the UEC delivery plan published in June.

On average, 59.91% of patients who no longer met the criteria to reside remained in hospital, compared with 58.94% for February 2025.

72.8% of patients were told they have cancer, or cancer was definitively excluded within 28 days of urgent referral (FDS) compared with 73.4% in January 2025. The March 2026 aims set out in the 2025/26 planning guidance is for this figure to be 80%.
89.8% of patients waited less than a month from a decision to treat to first treatment (31-day target) compared with 88.9% in January 2025. The operational standard is for this to be 96%.
68.4% of patients waited less than two months from an urgent suspected cancer referral to a first definitive treatment (62-day target), compared with 67.6% in January 2025. The March 2026 aims set out in the 2025/26 planning guidance is for this figure to be 75%.

2.53 million diagnostic tests were carried out this month, compared with 2.52 million in January 2025. This is the highest number of tests carried out in a January since records began (January 2006).
The waiting list reached 1.81 million, which the highest it has been since records began in January 2006. In January 2025 the waiting list was 1.62 million, and 1.05 million in January 2020, indicating sustained strain on diagnostic services since the pandemic.
24.7% of patients have been on an NHS waiting list for diagnostic tests for 6 weeks or more at the end of January, compared with 22.4% in January 2025.

The size of the waiting list decreased to 7.25 million in January, compared with 7.29 million in December. This is notably lower than the 7.43 million in January 2025, but the list remains significantly higher than before the pandemic (4.57 million in January 2020). This is shown in Figure 2.
The waiting list is at its lowest for nearly three years.
84.6% of patients on the waiting list were unique patients. This is an estimated 6.13 million people.
The number of cases waiting more than 18 weeks was 2.79 million, compared with 3.06 in January 2025.
Waits within 18 weeks were equivalent to 61.5% of all the total, compared with 58.9% in January 2025. Further progress is needed to meet the planning guidance aim for 65% of treatments to be waiting no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026.
Waits of over 52 weeks (135,657) have fallen from 198,828 in January 2025 and now account for 1.9% of all waits. The planning guidance sets out an aim for waits over a year to account for 1% of all waits by March 2026.
1.57 million cases were managed on the waiting list this month.
Demand for elective care, measured by new cases added to the list (1.79 million cases) continued to outpace activity.

Figure 2
Total size of elective waiting list