Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people on NHS waiting lists have been removed (a) in total, (b) because they were a duplicate appointment, (c) because the person had deceased or (d) for any other reason other than receiving a consultation.

NHS England publishes monthly Referral to Treatment (RTT) data, including information on completed pathways and overall changes to the waiting list.

In 2025/26, 21.8 million pathways were removed from the waiting list. Of these, 18.6 million were completed pathways, an increase of 2.8% compared to 2024/25, the highest ever recorded. The remaining 3.18 million were recorded as “unreported removals”.

On average, over 85% of removals from the RTT waiting list are completed pathways. This can include patients starting their first definitive treatment, a period of active monitoring, a clinical decision not to treat, or a patient declining a treatment.

Validation is a routine part of providers’ waiting list management which ensures that patients are on the best pathway to meet their needs, that they still need their appointments and that patient records are accurate. This includes checking for duplicate appointments. Validation is not the same as unreported removals.

The Department does not hold data on the number of patient pathways removed from the elective waiting list in all the ways requested, including identification of duplicate appointments.

However, data on instances where a patient died before treatment is collected through the Waiting List Minimum Data Set (WLMDS). The WLMDS is unpublished management information, subject to less validation than the monthly official statistics and totals do not match between the two sources.

In 2025, there were 77,874 removals from the waiting list where the patient died before treatment. The cause of death is unknown and, in many cases, will not relate to the condition for which the patient was awaiting treatment.