NHS: Waiting Lists
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2025 to Question 84028, what the 18-week referral-to-treatment performance is for each integrated care board (ICB); and which ICBs are off-trajectory for meeting the March 2026 target.
Answered by Karin Smyth
18-week referral-to-treatment (RTT) performance data for all integrated care boards (ICBs) is available at the following link:
https://data.england.nhs.uk/dashboard/rtt
This data is publicly available and can be used to make performance comparisons between ICBs.
NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement. This is against the November 2024 position, with all providers required to increase their RTT performance to a minimum of 60%.
To support this improvement across all trusts, there is a robust performance management process in place. The new NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 ensures that there is public accountability for performance and NHS England works with systems and providers to support improvement.
There is a process in place to identify and support the providers whose performance on elective waiting lists is most challenged, led by NHS England national and regional teams.
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