The latest data on the performance of the NHS will not make for pleasant reading for the PM or his health secretary – although there are some bright spots.

There was a slight increase in wait times in A&E departments, with 57% of attendees to type 1 (major) A&Es seen within 4 hours, down from 58.1% in October.

That’s in the context of the number of people attending all A&Es decreasing from 1.45 to 1.43 million.

The target is that 95% should be seen, treated, admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours of their arrival.

The health service’s performance in dealing with cancer referrals is very much a mixed bag.

The target is that less than 25% of urgent GP referrals for cancer checks – and that was met, with 23% of patients (66,147 people) waiting longer than a month, which is an improvement on September’s figure of 25.2%.

However, 32% of patients (9,140 people) waited longer than two months to start treatment for cancer after an urgent GP referral – which is twice as bad as the target of 15% (although marginally better than 32.7% in September).

The bright spot for Sir Keir Starmer is that the waiting list for NHS treatment has decreased for the third month in a row.

There were 7.54 million people on the list in October – down from 7.57 million in September.

Waiting lists peaked at 7.77 million in September last year, so it has reduced around 230,000 (3%) since then.