"Employers cannot solve NHS waiting lists, but they can make sure women know what support is available to them and can access the right care sooner."
- Sarah Taylor - Healix Health
The latest data from NHS England has found that the overall waiting list dipped month-on-month, decreasing from 7.28 million in May to 7.27 million in June 2026.
Although this is still higher than March’s four-year low of 7.11 million, it also shows a year-on-year drop from the 7.37 million on the waiting list in June 2025.
This comes despite a record number of patients being referred for treatment that month, and despite what NHS national medical director professor Frankie Swords described as a "summer surge", as the NHS recorded its three busiest months ever between May and July, including a record 2.5 million A&E attendances last month.
More patients were seen, treated or discharged within four hours than in June, with performance improving to 75.4%.
The NHS also revealed that June saw its best performance against the 18-week target for planned care since September 2021, with 65.8% of patients waiting within 18 weeks for treatment in June. This comes after more than 2.65 million diagnostic tests and checks were carried out in the same month, the highest number on record.
The NHS says that while it normally experiences spikes in demand during the summer months, this summer has seen unprecedented pressure, with heatwaves contributing to an increase in admissions caused by more outdoor activity and respiratory issues linked to dry weather, as well as causing some underlying medical conditions to worsen.
"Like many members of the public, NHS staff are enjoying the lovely weather outside of work, but the heat is making day-to-day working more challenging while also driving up pressure on services," Professor Frankie Swords said.
"But staff are as ever demonstrating outstanding professionalism, flexibility and hard work in the face of this summer surge - seeing more patients, more quickly, while bringing down the waiting list despite record numbers of people being referred for treatment."
Overall waiting list "only tells part of the story"
However, Sarah Taylor, director of corporate proposition at Healix Health, said that the "fall in the overall waiting list only tells part of the story, because some areas of care are still under much greater pressure than others," and recommended that employers pay more attention to women's healthcare as part of the support they offer.
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"Gynaecology is one of the clearest examples, with 584k pathways waiting to start treatment in June," she said. "Long waits for women’s health services can leave people managing symptoms for months while still trying to carry on with work and everyday life, and it is a useful reminder that looking at the detail behind the headline figures can tell us much more about where people are struggling to access care.
"For employers, that means thinking about women’s health as part of the overall healthcare support they offer, particularly as women can need different types of healthcare support at different stages of their working lives. When support is difficult to access, the impact can quickly spill over into the workplace, with our Hidden Workplace Healthcare Gap report finding that more than a quarter of employees had taken extra time off work because they could not access care.
"Employers cannot solve NHS waiting lists, but they can make sure women know what support is available to them and can access the right care sooner."
