November 2023 saw the NHS deliver 1.63 million treatments making it the highest monthly activity on record, according to new performance data.
Statistics show waiting lists fell for the second month in a row – down by 95,000 from 7.7 million in October to 7.6 million in November.
The number of individual patients waiting for care fell from 6.44 million in October to 6.39 million in November.
The NHS’s record-breaking month means that staff delivered around 150,000 more treatments than compared to before the pandemic in November 2019.
The number of patients waiting over a year for treatment dropped to 355,412 in November too – the lowest figure since May 2022.
Those waiting 65 weeks also went down to 94,563, which is the equivalent of a 59% reduction from a peak of 233,000 in June 2021.
Staff delivered a record number of diagnostic checks in November, with more than 2.3 million patients being seen – a 15% jump compared to November 2019.
NHS England’s national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, described the volume of care delivered as “hugely impressive”.
He said: “We have experienced the toughest possible start to 2024 with the longest set of strikes in our 75-year history, but we remain focused on doing all we can to make progress on the covid backlog that has inevitably built up over the pandemic.
“While we know we have a long way to go, caring for over 1.6 million people in a single month is such important progress and makes such a huge difference for those patients who have been waiting for an appointment or operation.”
To learn more about how the NHS will tackle waiting lists, sign up for National Health Executive’s backlog event to hear expert insight on everything from patient flow and diagnostics to recruitment and infrastructure.
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