The words to use
- Referral to treatment (RTT)
- The clock from referral to the start of treatment. The standard is 92% within 18 weeks; the figure was 65.2% in August 2026.
- Four-hour standard
- The A&E standard that 95% of patients are admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of arrival. In September 2026 the figure was 74.4%.
- Criteria to reside
- The test of whether a patient still needs a hospital bed. In September 2026 about 13,600 patients a day stayed in hospital without meeting it.
- Corridor care
- Treating patients in spaces not designed for care, such as corridors. NHS England counted about 3,310 patients a day in September 2026 (provisional).
- Validation
- Checking the waiting list and removing people who no longer need to be on it. It shrinks the list without treating anyone extra.
- Exit block
- When patients who need admission cannot leave A&E because no inpatient bed is free. It crowds the department and delays ambulance handovers.
- Elective care
- Planned, non-emergency treatment, such as a hip replacement or cataract surgery, reached through a referral and counted on the referral-to-treatment waiting list.
