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Health Services: Waiting Lists

Answer

Patients can be removed from the waiting list for various reasons. These include where a patient receives their first definitive treatment, begins a period of active monitoring, or declines treatment, or where a decision is made that no treatment is required. It can also include where a patient does not attend their first appointment, instances where the provider cannot accept the referral because it does not carry out the relevant procedure, and where patients are removed from the waiting list through validation because they no longer need to be treated.

A breakdown of reasons for coming off the waiting list is not available in the monthly official statistics. However, some such information is collected in the weekly management information from the Waiting List Minimum Data Set (WLMDS). The WLMDS is unverified management information, subject to less validation than the monthly official statistics and totals do not match between the two sources.

The WLMDS can be used to estimate proportions for the reasons patients have been removed from the waiting list. Of the reasons requested in this question, the WLMDS does not record centrally the proportion of patients removed due to administrative reasons.

The following table lists the estimated proportion of total completed pathways in the 2025 calendar year for reasons where data is held, with these proportions having been stable since WLMDS data was first collected:

Completed Referral to Treatment (RTT) pathways by RTT status code (WLMDS)	% of total completed pathways
30- First treatment - the start of the first treatment that is intended to manage a PATIENT's disease, condition or injury in a REFERRAL TO TREATMENT PERIOD	49%
31 - Start of active monitoring initiated by the PATIENT	2%
32 - Start of active monitoring initiated by the CARE PROFESSIONAL	13%
34 - Decision not to treat - decision not to treat made or no further contact required	31%
35 - PATIENT declined offered treatment	5%
36 - PATIENT died before treatment	<1%
Total with a valid status code	100%

Source: Waiting List Minimum Data Set (WLMDS), NHS England

Notes:

1. Those starting first treatment or where a clinical decision has been made not to treat ("resolution by medical intervention") make up approximately 80% of all removals. This does not include anyone where a decision is made to begin a period of active monitoring.
2. Those declining treatment ("withdrawing from treatment") make up approximately 5% of all removals.
3. Those sadly dying before treatment make up less than 1% of all removals.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

HL381

Session

2026-27

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Subjects

Health services Waiting lists

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk