Milestone achievement meeting interim 18-week target but government must go further on prevention

Responding to the latest NHS waiting lists figures showing that the government has met its interim target of 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18-weeks for elective treatment, Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said:  

'Meeting the interim 18-week target is a significant achievement and a tribute to the hard work of NHS staff who have had to weather the headwinds of industrial action, increasing demand and the biggest reorganisation of the health service in over a decade. Especially given this context, the health service’s leadership are rightly proud of what NHS staff have achieved for patients and the public.

'For patients and their loved ones, it means fewer long waits for treatment and some relief from the anxiety extended delays cause.

‘The government has funnelled £120 million in extra 'sprint funding' into NHS trusts since January alone, to focus them on the elective waits target in a race to meet the March deadline. This is significant progress, but it may prove to be progress bought at a high price. This amount of additional funding will be hard to sustain in the current economic climate. It brings into question whether reaching the eventual 92% target by rinsing and repeating this sequence of 'elective sprints' is financially feasible or manageable for already stretched NHS staff.

‘And this is nowhere near the end of the road. To give a sense of the scale of the challenge facing the government to hit 92% - since they came into office, there are now 460,000 fewer waits of over 18-weeks. If the waiting list were to stay the same, an extra 1.9 million waits would need to be seen within 18-weeks to meet the government's eventual 2029 target. Ministers can celebrate today’s milestone, but they cannot sprint their way to a lasting solution.

'The opportunity costs of the government’s approach must also be considered. Several other waiting lists continue to grow, and the priority given to meeting the elective target means less focus on preventing disease, with the promised ‘health mission’ to kickstart a prevention revolution falling largely by the wayside.

‘Breaking free of this narrow definition of health as a waiting list target requires some political bravery but may ultimately deliver better outcomes for people. The answer to improving the nation’s health does not always lie within an operating theatre.’

Notes to editors     

The King’s Fund data visualisation of sprint funding mapped onto waiting lists fall timeline and future extrapolation:

Other notable waiting lists changes with July 2024 – present:

• Community care waiting lists have grown 6%, up to 1.2 million in February 2026

• Diagnostic waiting lists have grown by 13%, up to 1.9 million in February 2026

• 12 hours waits in A&E for a bed have increased by more than a quarter, up to 48,000 in April 2026

• The improvement in the 18-week target from 58.8% in July 2024 to 65.3% in March 2026, means that 460,000 fewer people waited over 18 weeks in March 2026, based on the current size of the waiting list of 7.11 million

Previous work by The King’s Fund on issues with NHS admin: Still Lost In The System: The Urgent Need For Better NHS Admin | The King's Fund.

The King’s Fund response to the King’s Speech and the announced Health Bill: The King's Fund responds to the King's Speech and the introduction of the NHS Modernisation Bill | The King's Fund.