Overview

• The working-age group (19–64) now represents 56.1% of the 7.36 million people on NHS waiting lists, up from 55.0% in June 2022.
• Patients in the most deprived areas endure a 3.1% rate of waits exceeding 12 months compared with 2.7% in the least deprived regions.
• Women account for 57% of the total backlog and 58.1% of those waiting more than a year for treatment.
• Patients identifying as Bangladeshi face year-long waits at 3.2%, while Pakistani and African backgrounds record 3.0%, above British (2.8%) and Indian (2.7%) rates.
• NHS England has dispatched 20 “further faster” teams to trusts with the longest waits, opened neighbourhood health centres and will launch the Diagnosis Connect charity-referral programme next year.