NHS England · Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times: overview timeseries

NHS waits of more than a year

June 2026 Revised

105,711incomplete pathways

NHS waits of more than a year were 105,711 incomplete pathways at 30 June 2026, up 0.9% (977) from 104,734 at 31 May 2026.

▲ 0.9% · +977 against May 2026 (previous period)

NHS England snapshot
June 2026
published 13 August 2026
RTT overview timeseries, incomplete pathways
row “June 2026”
column “No. > 52 weeks with estimates for missing data”
cell value 105711

The series is falling. Rule: down 44.9% from June 2025 to June 2026.

August 2007 to June 2026

Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestDashed line: change in coverage or methodShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

The number of incomplete consultant-led referral-to-treatment pathways in England that had been waiting more than 52 weeks at the end of the month, including NHS England's estimates for trusts that did not submit.

What this doesn’t measure

People (one patient can hold several pathways), completed long waits, or waits for diagnostics, mental health or emergency care.

Important caveat

England only: health is devolved, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own waiting-time measures on different definitions. The series counts pathways, not people — one patient can be on several pathways — and uses NHS England's estimates for trusts that missed a month's submission, which is its own preferred complete series. Reporting guidance changed in April 2021, marked as a break on the chart. Recent months are routinely revised.

When the way this was measured changed

A series can move because the thing being measured changed, or because the way of measuring it changed. Each change below is marked on the chart, and says what the figures meant on either side of it.

April 2021 · methodology change

Before: Reported under the pre-April-2021 RTT guidance.
After: Reported under revised guidance introduced in April 2021, as flagged in the overview timeseries notes.

NHS England changed the reporting of RTT data from April 2021; figures either side are published on different bases.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher: NHS England
Publication: Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times: overview timeseries
Release: June 2026, published 13 August 2026
Source file: rtt-overview.xlsx
File SHA-256: ad523bcb7ea1f2588bc3e0ba15880c8c72bfeb096a0159263aefece86d6ee1e9
Retrieved: 4 September 2026
Sheet: Full Time Series
Table: RTT overview timeseries, incomplete pathways
Row: June 2026
Column: No. > 52 weeks with estimates for missing data
Cell value: 105711
Geography: E92000001
Unit: incomplete pathways
API: /api/metrics/rtt_over_52_weeks · /series · /vintages

Related metrics

NHS waiting list (incomplete treatment pathways)

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–	302,693June 2024	105,711June 2026	↓ 65.1%
Conservative 2019–2024	1,630November 2019	302,693June 2024	↑ 18,470.1%
Conservative 2017–2019	1,744May 2017	1,630November 2019	↓ 6.5%
Conservative 2015–2017	713April 2015	1,744May 2017	↑ 144.6%
Coalition 2010–2015	21,109April 2010	713April 2015	↓ 96.6%

Full comparison with chart

Release: June 2026 · publication page
Last updated: 13 August 2026
Next release expected: Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)