A&E departments in England recorded 2.44 million attendances in September 2026 — the highest total for any September in the available statistics. Ambulance services also dealt with a record number of incidents for the month. NHS England warns that pressure on hospitals is building even before winter.
The figures, published on 8 October, cover England rather than the whole of the UK. A&E stands for Accident and Emergency, the equivalent of Poland’s SOR emergency departments. The 2.44 million figure counts attendances, not individual patients: one person may have sought help more than once. Ambulance services recorded 806,707 incidents, a separate measure that should not be added to the A&E total.
In an NHS England statement, national medical director Professor Frankie Swords pointed to early signs of winter pressure on the health service. In her assessment, the number of patients with flu and other respiratory viruses is already higher than usual for this time of year. This is a warning about current conditions, not a prediction of how the entire winter will unfold.
Hospital bed occupancy remains high
September’s statistics also show high levels of bed occupancy. Average adult bed occupancy in acute hospitals was 94.9%, compared with 94.3% in August and 94.7% in September the previous year.
Meanwhile, an average of 13,647 adult patients a day remained in hospital despite being medically ready for discharge. The figure shows the scale of beds still occupied, but does not in itself explain why individual patients were unable to leave hospital.
Record summer activity did not reduce the waiting list
Pressure on emergency services is only part of the picture. From June to August, the NHS delivered 4,738,824 planned treatments, procedures and appointments — a record for the summer period. Despite that, the elective care waiting list grew by 41,848 treatment pathways in August compared with July. Elective care means planned, non-emergency care.
NHS England gives the rounded waiting list total as 7.4 million. The BBC reports a more precise figure of around 7.37 million outstanding treatments at the end of August, involving 6.24 million patients. The distinction matters: one person can be waiting for more than one treatment, so the number of entries on the list is not the number of people.
With pressure growing, NHS England is encouraging eligible people to take up the vaccinations offered to them, including those against flu, RSV and COVID-19. The appeal applies to people covered by the respective vaccination programmes; it does not mean that every vaccine is available to everyone.
