Every NHS hospital in England has been told to improve patient waiting times for planned treatment as the government has made hitting the 18-week target one of its key priorities for this parliament.
By March 2026, the government wants to see at least 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks.
To get there, every NHS trust has to either get to 60% or improve on its November 2024 figures by five percentage points – whichever is greater.
That is just a stepping stone towards the ultimate goal of achieving 92% by July 2029.
Use your postcode to find out whether waiting lists are getting better near you.
BBC Verify’s analysis included NHS trusts in England that had at least 5,000 people waiting for elective treatment in November 2024.
Targets in other nations are different and the interim targets for next March set by the UK government do not apply.
While Scotland aims for 90% of patients to be treated within 18 weeks of referral, in Wales the target is for 95% of patients to wait less than 26 weeks.
In Northern Ireland, 55% of patients should wait no longer than 13 weeks for day case or inpatient treatment.
Interactive tool produced by Alli Shultes, Rebecca French, Daniel Wainwright, Nick Triggle, Ollie Lux Rigby, Chris Kay, Adam Allen, Avi Holden and Rebecca Wedge-Roberts
Prof Teresa Lamb, who led the Ebola vaccine team at the University of Oxford, said…
The Palestinian foreign ministry said it "condemns in the strongest terms the massacre" in Tal.It…
Paula Narvaez, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, briefed journalists in New York on her…
Gender equality agency UN Women sounded the alarm this week over what it called a…
Wildfires destroyed 2.2 million hectares of land in the WHO’s European Region in 2025 –…
Chelley Tulloch, a former RAF medic, has been working with the group and found it…