More than 3,500 patients waited over 12 hours in Greater Manchester A&Es last month, new data shows, as the regional waiting list continued to fall.
A total of 3,587 patients at A&Es across the region had to wait more than 12 hours from a decision to admit to admission. That is up from 3,081 at the same time last year but down from a peak of 4,608 in January 2025.
Four-Hour Target Performance
More than half of attendances at Greater Manchester Type 1 A&Es waited less than four hours from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge last month, which is well below the national average of 74%.
There has been little change compared to last year when 57% of attendances waited less than four hours. In October 2024 the proportion was 54% and in October 2023 it was 53%.
Waiting List Numbers
The waiting list in Greater Manchester has continued to fall, with just under 441,000 people on the waiting list across the county in September. That is down from nearly 442,000 in August and 467,000 in September last year. The waiting list reached a peak of 525,000 in July of 2023.
A total of nearly 7,800 have been on the waiting list for over a year. That had been as few as 6,700 as recently as June, but the number now is still half of what it was in September last year when 15,000 had been waiting for over a year.
National Context
It comes as NHS waiting lists nationally increased for the third month in a row in September, as a record number attended A&E. The waiting list in England reached 7.38 million in September according to the latest figures from the NHS.
That is almost 6,000 more than in August and is the third month in a row where the number has grown, albeit by a small percentage. The total is also lower than the 7.57 million that were on the waiting list two years ago in September 2024.
Residents can check the state of their local NHS trust by using an interactive gadget, which allows users to enter their postcode to get a list of local trusts to pick from.
