An outbreak of meningitis that led to the deaths of two students and saw dozens of people hospitalised drove record A&E visits in March, according to NHS England.
Last month 2.43 million patients sought emergency care – breaking the previous record of 2.41 million in May 2024, figures published on Thursday show.
The data comes after a major outbreak of meningitis in Kent in March, which led to the death of a student at the university in Canterbury and Juliette, a year 13 pupil from Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham.
NHS England said the record-breaking A&E month was driven in part by the outbreak of the infection, “which saw a marked increase in demand”.
Despite the record number of visits, fewer people were waiting more than 12 hours in A&E to be seen, treated or discharged: 136,201, compared to February when 150,787 were left waiting that long.
Some 77.1 per cent of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&E departments last month, up from 74.1 per cent in February. That is below the government and NHS England’s March target of 78 per cent of patients attending A&E being admitted, discharged, or transferred within four hours.
Meanwhile, the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has fallen for the fourth month in a row.
An estimated 7.22 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of February, relating to 6.11 million patients. That is down from 7.25 million treatments and 6.13 million patients at the end of January.
The number of treatments waiting to be carried out is at its lowest level since February 2023, when it stood at 7.22 million. The list hit a record high in September 2023, with 7.77 million treatments and 6.5 million patients.
Discussing the latest NHS statistics on LBC radio, health secretary Wes Streeting said: “They are all showing progress in the right direction.”
He added: “There’ll be people listening, thinking, ‘Yeah, it’s moving in the right direction. That was my experience’. They’ll have a story to tell that will mean a lot to them. They’ll be saying, well done.
“And there’ll be other people shouting on the radio saying, ‘What the hell is this guy talking about? I’ve had a really awful experience’. And both of those things are true. The NHS is moving in the right direction.
“It’s on the road to recovery, but there’s a lot more to do, and for me, the next year is about putting my foot down on the accelerator.”
Figures also show the number of people waiting more than a year for treatment in February fell to its lowest point since August 2020, with 122,668 people waiting, down from 135,657 at the end of January.
Some 1.7 per cent of people on the list for hospital treatment had been waiting more than 52 weeks in February, down from 1.87 per cent the previous month. The target for this is less than 1 per cent.
Deputy CEO and medical director for NHS England, Professor Meghana Pandit, said: “I am incredibly proud of the work that NHS staff have put in over the past year to get us within touching distance of our elective recovery target.
“This progress has been achieved despite the busiest winter on record and disruption caused by industrial action. This shows the determination of staff to get back to delivering on their commitments no matter how challenging the circumstances have been.”
“Pressure on services remain very high, with more people attending A&E in March than ever before, following prolonged winter demand.”
The latest NHS figures come after a six-day resident doctors strike in April. When asked if he would be able to end strikes this year, Mr Streeting told LBC: “I honestly don’t know.”
NHS makes progress ‘in spite of strikes’ as waits fall for fourth month in a row
Public should be ‘reassured’ by Iran war food shortage preparation – Peter Kyle
Gynaecology waiting lists will fall faster than overall waiting list – Streeting
Streeting admits he got it wrong on Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein
Covid inquiry latest: Urgent work needed to rebuild trust in vaccines, ministers told
Coroner calls for changes to asthma attack assessment after ‘skin tone’ confusion
