NHS staff delivered a record number of cancer checks and treatments in July, despite 5 days of industrial action.
A record 236,263 people got a cancer diagnosis or the disease ruled out within 28 days in July – meeting the Faster Diagnosis Standard – while 21,633 patients started cancer treatment within 62 days, the highest since the standard was introduced in October 2023.
In the year to June, the NHS delivered a total of 5.2 million additional operations, appointments and tests compared to the year before.
The record-breaking month for the NHS came amid 5 days of strikes by resident doctors, from Friday 25 July to Wednesday 30 July. More care was delivered during the July 2025 resident doctors’ strike than in the 5-day June 2024 walkout, with NHS analysis estimating that an additional 11,071 appointments and procedures went ahead.
While the waiting list rose by 33,627 in July, the NHS delivered more treatments than the same month last year – 1.64 million, up 2.6% on July 2024 (1.60 million).
The number of waits longer than a year are down more than a third (191,648) on last July (290,326). The proportion of patients waiting less than 18 weeks was 61.3%.
Many more people came forward for elective care, with the number of new joiners to the waiting list up 5% on last July (1.95 million vs 1.86 million).
The NHS delivered a record 2.6 million overall tests and checks, up 4% on 2.5 million last July and up 26% on pre-pandemic (2 million in July 2019).
The latest figures also reveal NHS urgent and emergency services faced their busiest August ever, with 2.3 million A&E attendances and 775,330 ambulance incidents – up 5% and 6% respectively on the year before.
Despite this pressure, the average response time for Category 2 incidents, such as heart attacks and strokes, was the fastest for more than 4 years – since May 2021 – at 27 minutes 3 seconds.
For the first time, the NHS has also published new Faster Diagnosis Standard data split by those who have been diagnosed with cancer and those who have had it ruled out.
Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS National Medical Director, said: “Industrial action in the NHS is never easy for patients, but despite last month’s disruption record number of cancer patients got the care they needed.
“While urgent ambulance response times were the fastest they’ve been in over 4 years – even as A&E and ambulance staff saw more patients in August than ever before.
“These results show the NHS is always there for patients — no matter what is thrown its way.
“We continue to encourage anyone with worrying symptoms and concerns to come forward for care and as always, to only use 999 and A&E in life-threatening emergencies with 111 available for other conditions.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “One year ago, I made a promise that we would deliver 2 million extra appointments in our first year – not only did we do this in just 5 months, but we have obliterated that target, carrying out over 5 million.
“That is testament to the relentless efforts of NHS staff across the country, alongside key reforms to get waiting times down for patients. Our 10 Year Health Plan will go even further, driving care out of our busy hospitals and into local communities as we deliver the radical transformation required to fix our broken health service.
“Earlier this week, I set out our vision for a more transparent NHS by publishing new league tables. Today we are continuing on that path with newly published cancer diagnosis data. It is only by shining a light on unacceptable disparities that we can tackle the postcode lottery of care. Our National Cancer Plan will set out how we will put the NHS back at the forefront of global cancer care.”
Background
The latest NHS monthly performance statistics can be accessed on the NHS England website.
