After rising for three months in a row, the number of patients waiting to start treatment has fallen slightly to 7.39 million.
The overall waiting list for planned treatment increased month-on-month in June, July, and August, when it peaked at 7.41 million. But new figures published by NHS England show that this number has now fallen in September 2025.
As some patients are on multiple waiting lists, the total number of unique patients estimated to be waiting for treatment is currently at 6.2 million.
While waiting times have fallen slightly since last month’s data, the NHS is still failing to meet its constitutional standard that 92% of patients should be treated within 18 weeks of referral.
In 61.8% of cases, patients had been waiting up to 18 weeks for treatment, and in 180,329 cases patients had been waiting for more than 52 weeks for treatment.
Where patients were waiting to start treatment at the end of September 2025, the median waiting time was 13.4 weeks and the 92nd percentile waiting time was 41.8 weeks, far above the 18-week standard.
In September 2025, 1.8 million new patients were referred for treatment and joined the waiting list.
New blood cancer drug rolls out
Alongside a slight decline in its waiting list, NHS England has also announced the rollout of a new drug used to treat an aggressive form of blood cancer.
Glofitamab will now be offered to around 300 people per year with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which is a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has returned or not responded to chemotherapy, NHS England confirmed.
The drug has been fast-tracked through the NHS Cancer Drugs Fund, which provides patients with quicker access to the latest innovative cancer therapies.
It is administered every three weeks via an intravenous infusion and has shown to be highly effective during clinical trials, where almost six in ten people with late-staged DLBCL saw their cancer go into complete remission after a course of glofitamab in combination with chemotherapy.
Around 5,500 people are diagnosed with this cancer each year in England, mainly affecting men aged 65 and over, and the most common symptom are painless swellings of the glands.
“Antibodies such as glofitamab that harness the power of the immune system to target lymphoma, are transforming the way people are treated and helping to boost the number of people cured,” said NHS England National Clinical Director for Cancer Professor Peter Johnson.
“This is excellent news for patients with this aggressive form of blood cancer, with the NHS fast-tracking this cutting-edge treatment so that more people can benefit.”
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