Government sets new 18-week NHS waiting time targets for England

The UK government has instructed every NHS hospital in England to improve patient waiting times for planned (elective) treatment, making the 18‑week standard a central priority for this parliament.

By March 2026 the government wants at least 65% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment. To meet interim expectations, each NHS trust in England must either achieve a 60% performance level or improve on its November 2024 figures by five percentage points, whichever is greater. The measures are described as a stepping stone toward a longer‑term target of 92% of patients waiting no more than 18 weeks by July 2029.

The interim requirement announced by ministers applies to NHS trusts in England only. BBC Verify analysed trusts that had at least 5,000 people waiting for elective treatment in November 2024 to produce an interactive tool that lets users check whether waiting lists are getting better in their area by entering a postcode. The BBC said the tool and analysis were produced by its Data Journalism and Verify teams.

Targets and timetables differ across the United Kingdom. Scotland has set a target of 90% of patients being treated within 18 weeks of referral. Wales aims for 95% of patients to wait less than 26 weeks. In Northern Ireland the target is that 55% of patients should wait no longer than 13 weeks for day case or inpatient treatment. The UK government's interim targets for March 2026 do not apply in the devolved administrations.

Officials have framed the new England targets as part of a wider push to reduce long waiting lists for elective care and to provide longer‑term certainty about expected performance standards. The requirement that trusts either hit a 60% threshold or demonstrate measurable improvement from a November 2024 baseline is intended to account for variation in local starting positions while driving year‑on‑year progress.

The BBC's interactive tracker uses official NHS data and excludes trusts with smaller elective waiting lists to focus on larger services where changes will have the biggest impact on patient experience. The analysis and tool were credited to the BBC Verify and Data Journalism teams.

Health service leaders, clinicians and patient groups have previously warned that recovering elective services after the disruption of the COVID‑19 pandemic and subsequent pressures on staffing and capacity would take several years. Ministers say setting clear, stepped targets will concentrate investment and operational effort in the short term while aiming to return waiting times closer to pre‑pandemic standards over the next parliamentary term.

Patients and local campaigners can use the BBC's postcode lookup to see how their local trust performed against the November 2024 baseline and whether it has improved toward the March 2026 interim goals. The government and NHS have said they will monitor progress against the targets and publish performance data to track national and local improvement over time.