Cyril Lobont

We know the number of people living with dementia in England is growing. How ready is social care to guarantee quality, personalised care for all of them? New report, by @CamilleOung @NatashaCurry123 and I, looks at what action is needed where to better prepare the system.

For more, please go to nuffieldtrust.org.uk/qualitywatch/n… the @Quality_Watch section of the @NuffieldTrust website. Also make sure to check out colleagues Bea and @DrLizFisher insightful new analysis of disparities in waiting times between different population groups nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/nhs-…

Numbers of long waits, such as 12+ hour trolley waits, jumped considerably in September. Hopefully these increases do not persist.

Similarly, performance on the two month wait from an urgent GP referral to cancer treatment metric, which used to be a headline statistic, is as good as it has been since early 2022. However, sustained progress has thus far been elusive for both of these.

However, there are also some positive stories! The proportion of patients waiting over two months for their first cancer treatment was the lowest it has been since records began, at 31% in August. This is very close to the March 2025 objective of 30%.

It is clear that the target to have no more patients waiting over 65 weeks to start treatment will not have been met by September. In August, with one month to go, there were still 45,500 waits this long.

We all know that recent winters have been tough for the health service, and the root causes of these issues have been far from fixed. Taking a look at today’s performance data can give us an idea of the state of the #NHS as this period fast approaches. A thread:

Progress on reducing the overall waiting list for elective (planned) care continues to prove elusive. Whilst it has not grown substantially for a while, at 7.64 million, it remains stubbornly close to record levels.

@RobYeldham @NuffieldTrust Hi Rob, you make a valid point. We all want to see better prevention, addressing of soc-economic determinant of health, and so on. But in terms of demonstrating improvements within this parliament, for example, it's going to be tough to bring down numbers joining the waiting list

@cglobont @NuffieldTrust Actually need isn’t necessarily ever growing, as population is finite and many of the conditions people have could be avoided in the first place or their progression limited with rehab.

The Darzi review provides a damning indictment of the state of the #NHS. Much of it focuses upon the way it was run by the previous government. However, there's an inescapable reality – the relentless growth in need. Today’s waiting list statistics can help tell this story. 🧵:

For more on this month’s performance stats, visit nuffieldtrust.org.uk/qualitywatch/n… @NuffieldTrust @Quality_Watch

Those in government trying to balance the books are faced by this uncomfortable reality.