# Meet the 18-week NHS waiting time standard > “ending hospital backlogs to meet the NHS standard of 92% of patients in England waiting no longer than 18 weeks for elective treatment” > > — Keir Starmer, Prime Minister, Labour Party; Plan for Change, PM's foreword, page 6, 5 December 2024 - **Status:** Delivering - **Status ladder:** Promised → In plan → Legislated → Funded → Delivering → Delivered - **Policy area:** [Health](https://ledgergov.uk/promises/area/health) - **Speaker:** [Keir Starmer](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/keir-starmer), Prime Minister - **Party:** [Labour Party](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/labour) - **Made on:** 5 December 2024 - **Where:** Plan for Change, PM's foreword, page 6 - **Deadline:** 31 March 2029 - **Cost a year:** No costing published - **Who it affects:** Patients in England waiting for planned (elective) hospital treatment - **When:** By March 2029 (the end of the Parliament) - **Paid for by:** Not stated when it was announced - **Quote source:** https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6751af4719e0c816d18d1df3/Plan_for_Change.pdf (checked word for word on 6 October 2026; Open Government Licence v3.0) - **Last updated:** 6 October 2026 - **Card:** https://ledgergov.uk/promise/uk-nhs-18-weeks-2024 ## Where it stands NHS England's plan sets March 2029 for the 92% standard, and the Spending Review 2025 ties the NHS settlement to it. The share of waiting-list pathways (cases) under 18 weeks met the interim 65% goal in March 2026 (65.3%) and stood at 65.4% in July 2026, 26.6 percentage points below the 92% standard, so the card sits at Delivering. ## Timeline - 5 December 2024, Promised: PM sets the 18-week milestone in the Plan for Change - 6 January 2025, In plan: NHS England's elective reform plan commits to meet the 92% standard by March 2029, with 65% by March 2026 ([evidence](https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/reforming-elective-care-for-patients/)) - 11 June 2025, Funded: Spending Review 2025 links the NHS settlement to 92% of patients starting treatment within 18 weeks by the end of the Parliament ([evidence](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2025-document/spending-review-2025-html)) - 14 May 2026, Delivering: March 2026 figures: 65.3% of waiting-list pathways (cases) under 18 weeks, meeting the interim 65% goal ([evidence](https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/Mar26-RTT-statistical-press-notice-PDF-545K-Dc1i9U.pdf)) - 31 March 2029, Deadline (to come): 92% of patients due to wait no longer than 18 weeks ## About the cost No separate costing. The Spending Review 2025 links the NHS settlement (a £29bn real-terms rise in day-to-day spending from 2023-24 to 2028-29) to this milestone but does not say how much of it pays for the target. Costing sources: - [Spending Review 2025 (HM Treasury)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2025-document/spending-review-2025-html) ## Contracts behind delivery 1 public contract linked by an editor, £52,269 in all at their latest values; 1 awarded without competition. Figures come from the contract notices (Open Government Licence v3.0). - PAHT - Validation Solution - Source Group: The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust to Insource Select Limited, £52,269, awarded 19 May 2025, ends 20 October 2025 ([notice](https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/075228-2025)) ## Corrections - 6 October 2026, the text of the “Delivering” entry: The statistic counts waiting-list pathways, not people; one patient can have more than one pathway. NHS England reports it as 65.3% of cases. Was: “March 2026 figures: 65.3% of patients waiting under 18 weeks, meeting the interim 65% goal”. Now: “March 2026 figures: 65.3% of waiting-list pathways (cases) under 18 weeks, meeting the interim 65% goal”. ([source](https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/Mar26-RTT-statistical-press-notice-PDF-545K-Dc1i9U.pdf)) ## Sources - [Plan for Change: Milestones for mission-led government (PDF), 5 Dec 2024](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6751af4719e0c816d18d1df3/Plan_for_Change.pdf) - [PM speech on Plan for Change, 5 Dec 2024](https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-on-plan-for-change-5-december-2024) - [NHS England: Reforming elective care for patients, 6 Jan 2025](https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/reforming-elective-care-for-patients/) - [Spending Review 2025 (HM Treasury)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2025-document/spending-review-2025-html) - [NHS England RTT statistical press notice, March 2026 data (14 May 2026)](https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/Mar26-RTT-statistical-press-notice-PDF-545K-Dc1i9U.pdf) - [NHS England RTT statistical press notice, July 2026 data (10 Sep 2026)](https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/Jul26-RTT-statistical-press-notice-PDF-578K-97ylx5.pdf) ## Checks - Checked by AI Journalist (automated) on 6 October 2026; human editor review to come. --- Public Ledger's own writing (headlines, status notes, cost notes, summaries) is licensed under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse it, crediting Public Ledger with a link to the card. 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