Nearly seven million individuals across London and the broader NHS system are enduring unprecedented wait times for critical healthcare services, according to the latest figures from October 2025. The total waiting list has reached 7.30 million cases, representing 6.24 million individual patients, with median waiting times for treatment start hitting 13.3 weeks—a significant increase from 7.6 weeks pre-COVID in October 2019.
NHS waiting lists hit record 7.30 million cases, with patients now waiting nearly twice as long for treatment compared to pre-pandemic times.
London residents face particularly severe challenges, with over one million people waiting up to 20 weeks for hospital beds or specialist services. In the capital, 21% of appointments experience at least two-week delays, while 7.5% face four-week waits. Trauma and orthopaedics departments are most severely impacted, with over 800,000 patients waiting nationally as of March 2024.
The situation in emergency departments remains critical, with only 74.2% of A&E attendees being admitted, transferred, or discharged within the four-hour target in November 2025. This leaves more than a quarter of patients waiting beyond the standard time frame. This aligns with national statistics showing 25.8% of patients waited longer than 4 hours in A&E during the same period.
The number of patients waiting over 12 hours for emergency admission, while dropping slightly to 50,600 in November 2025, remains 46 times higher than pre-pandemic levels. Addressing these wait times is complicated by ongoing infection control measures which continue to limit hospital capacity. The independent sector has significantly contributed by delivering over 500,000 NHS appointments in March 2025 alone, helping to reduce the overall burden.
Some progress has been noted in reducing extreme waits, with 52-week waits down 37.2% compared to the previous year. However, approximately 2.80 million patients still waited over 18 weeks in October 2025, far exceeding the NHS target of having 65% of patients meet the 18-week standard by March 2026.
The independent sector shows better performance metrics, with patients waiting an average of 10.6 weeks compared to 17.6 weeks in NHS facilities. Additionally, 76% of independent sector patients wait under 18 weeks, compared to just 57% for NHS patients.
As the healthcare system struggles to recover from pandemic disruptions, authorities have established targets to reduce 12-hour waits to under 10% of 2024/25 levels and eliminate 52-week waits by March 2025, though achieving these goals appears increasingly challenging.
