What the latest NHS hospital figures for England show

NHS England has published its latest weekly snapshot of winter pressures on hospitals, including patients with flu and ambulance handover delays, along with monthly performance data for waiting times, cancer referrals and other targets.

Here the Press Association runs through the key numbers and trends in both reports:

An average of 2,660 flu patients were in hospital in England each day in the week to December 7, including 106 in critical care.

This is up 55% from 1,717 the previous week, when 69 were in critical care.

The figure is higher than at this point last winter, when the average stood at 1,861.

It is also much higher than at this stage two years ago in December 2023, when the figure stood at 402, and at this point in 2022 (1,248).

Flu patients peaked last winter at 5,408.

The highest weekly figure since the pandemic is 5,441, which occurred during winter 2022/23.

An average of 354 hospital beds were filled each day last week by patients with diarrhoea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms.

This is up 35% from 263 the previous week, but lower than the equivalent figure at this point last winter (837) and two years ago (511).

The number of hospital beds occupied each day last week by patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 averaged 863, up slightly week-on-week from 825.

At this point last year the figure stood at 1,343.

A total of 32% of patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England last week waited at least 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E teams.

This is up from 30% the previous week, but lower than the equivalent week in 2024, when the proportion stood at 36%.

Some 12% of ambulance handovers last week, or 11,141 patients, were delayed by more than an hour, up from 10% the previous week but lower than this point last year (16%).

The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has risen slightly.

An estimated 7.40 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of October, up from 7.39 million at the end of September.

The number of patients waiting for treatment is broadly unchanged at 6.24 million.

The list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.

The size of the list has been on an upward trend for much of the last 10 years, passing three million treatments in 2014, four million in 2017, five million in 2021 and seven million in 2022.

In February 2020, the last full month before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the list stood at 4.57 million treatments.

A total of 172,556 people had been waiting more than a year to start routine hospital treatment at the end of October, down from 180,329 at the end of September.

A year earlier, the figure stood at 234,914.

Some 2.3% of people on the list for hospital treatment had been waiting more than 52 weeks in October, down from 2.4% the previous month.

The Government and NHS England have set a target of March 2026 for this figure to be reduced to less than 1%.

An estimated 1,716 patients had been waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment at the end of October, up from 1,489 in September.

A year earlier, in October 2024, the number stood at 2,449.

There were 12,542 patients who had been waiting more than 65 weeks to start treatment, down from 12,822 the previous month.

This figure stood at 20,939 in October 2024.

The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments from a decision to admit to actually being admitted, so-called “corridor care”, stood at 50,648 in November, down from 54,314 in October.

The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also fell, standing at 133,799 last month, down from 142,734 in October.

Some 74.2% of patients were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, up slightly from 74.1% in October.

The Government and NHS England have set a target of March 2026 for 78% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, discharged or transferred within four hours.

A total of 76.1% of patients in England urgently referred for suspected cancer were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days in October, up from 73.9% in September.

This is above the current target of 75%.

The Government and NHS England have set an additional target of March 2026 for this figure to reach 80%.

There continues to be a large difference between the proportion of patients having cancer ruled out and those having cancer confirmed.

Some 77.6% of those patients ruled out of having cancer were told within 28 days in October.

By contrast, just 54.6% of patients had their cancer confirmed within 28 days.

The proportion of patients who had waited no longer than 62 days in October from an urgent suspected cancer referral, or consultant upgrade, to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 68.8%, up from 67.9% in September.

The Government and NHS England have set a target of March 2026 for this figure to reach 75%.

GPs in England made 290,805 urgent cancer referrals in October, up from 286,050 in September and up year on year from 279,246 in October 2024.

The average response time in November for ambulances dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was eight minutes and one second.

This is unchanged from October and is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.

Ambulances took an average of 32 minutes and 46 seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis.

This is up very slightly from 32 minutes and 37 seconds in October.

The Government and NHS England have set a target for this figure to average 30 minutes across 2025/26.

The average currently stands at 29 minutes and 37 seconds.

Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged two hours, two minutes and 19 seconds in November, slightly faster than two hours, four minutes and seven seconds in October.