Data released in March provides an insight into the record high demand occurring across the secondary care sector and the record levels of activity being delivered by trusts, with improvements occurring against performance targets.
Performance standards in A&E and diagnostic waits over six weeks are moving in the right direction. In some areas performance went beyond current targets, with the highest ever 28-day faster cancer pathway performance recorded in February. Ambulance services also delivered a significant improvement in performance this month. For category 2 response times, the national 30-minute target was met - for the third time in nearly four years. Category 1 response times were on average the fastest recorded since May 2021.
Demand remains high across urgent and emergency care with record A&E attendances in March and an increase in both category 1 and category 2 ambulance incidents. In planned care, record levels of diagnostic appointments were delivered compared to any other February. The elective waiting list also fell for the sixth month running as trusts work to boost planned care activity. However, signs of stretched capacity throughout hospitals continue, with discharge delays higher than last year and measures of patient flow, such as 12 hour waits related to A&E, remaining high.
Measures of demand and activity have also been recorded at all-time highs across mental health and community services this month. Community services saw a sharp rise in referrals in January, while care contacts reached their highest level on record. Meanwhile, the number of open referrals to mental health services and people in contact with services has never been higher. Our briefing Mental health: shifting the focus explores the current challenges facing the sector and how trusts are responding and innovating.
This month's data also highlighted ongoing pressures for children and young people's (CYP) services. The number of CYP waiting for first contact from community mental health services is the highest it has ever been. Waits for community services over 52 weeks for CYP also reached record highs. Signs of growing activity undertaken by trusts were evident too, with a peak in the number of children and young people accessing mental health services over the last year.