GeraClinic / NHS waiting times
NHS Waiting Times by Specialty
Across all specialties, 7,123,980 patients in England were waiting to start NHS treatment on an open (incomplete) referral-to-treatment pathway, with a national median wait of 11.9 weeks and 64.9% seen within 18 weeks. Choose a specialty for its real waiting figures. Reference period: April 2026 (official NHS England RTT data).
Quick answer
As of April 2026, the NHS in England had 7,123,980 patients on an incomplete referral-to-treatment pathway. The national median wait was 11.9 weeks, and 64.9% had been waiting 18 weeks or less (the NHS standard is 92% within 18 weeks). The longest waits are in surgical and orthopaedic specialties — pick a specialty below for its exact figures.
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Book a private consultationNHS waiting times by specialty (April 2026)
| Specialty | Patients waiting | Within 18 weeks | Median wait | Over 52 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All specialties (England) | 7,123,980 | 64.9% | 11.9 weeks | 100,665 |
| Trauma and Orthopaedic Service | 827,992 | 58.8% | 13.9 weeks | 19,505 |
| Other - Medical Services | 620,792 | 70.4% | 10.3 weeks | 4,222 |
| Ophthalmology Service | 612,588 | 73.1% | 9.7 weeks | 4,560 |
| Ear Nose and Throat Service | 589,187 | 58.3% | 14.1 weeks | 12,785 |
| Gynaecology Service | 564,686 | 60.2% | 13.3 weeks | 10,702 |
| Other - Surgical Services | 465,868 | 65.5% | 11.4 weeks | 6,016 |
| General Surgery Service | 382,295 | 62.7% | 12.7 weeks | 6,414 |
| Dermatology Service | 380,277 | 65.7% | 11.2 weeks | 4,210 |
| Cardiology Service | 378,687 | 68.4% | 11.4 weeks | 2,915 |
| Urology Service | 378,422 | 64.9% | 12.2 weeks | 5,155 |
| Gastroenterology Service | 372,204 | 69.0% | 11.1 weeks | 3,191 |
| Oral Surgery Service | 321,516 | 54.9% | 15.2 weeks | 7,445 |
| Other - Paediatric Services | 320,713 | 67.6% | 11.3 weeks | 4,178 |
| Neurology Service | 209,399 | 60.1% | 13.5 weeks | 2,063 |
| Respiratory Medicine Service | 188,387 | 74.7% | 9.7 weeks | 663 |
| Other - Other Services | 159,137 | 76.2% | 8.4 weeks | 1,399 |
| Rheumatology Service | 115,478 | 69.6% | 10.6 weeks | 937 |
| Plastic Surgery Service | 102,433 | 56.6% | 14.3 weeks | 2,630 |
| Neurosurgical Service | 57,342 | 62.3% | 12.7 weeks | 844 |
| General Internal Medicine Service | 37,894 | 70.7% | 10.8 weeks | 530 |
| Elderly Medicine Service | 26,513 | 82.4% | 7.6 weeks | 159 |
| Cardiothoracic Surgery Service | 9,122 | 72.0% | 9.9 weeks | 139 |
| Other - Mental Health Services | 3,048 | 79.2% | 8.7 weeks | 3 |
“Patients waiting” counts incomplete (open) pathways with a known clock start. “Within 18 weeks” is the share waiting 18 weeks or less. Figures are aggregated nationally across all NHS providers in England, April 2026.
Related directories
- Browse specialties & book a specialist — see a consultant online without the NHS wait.
- CQC-registered care providers by region — the official care register, sliced by region.
- CQC providers by local authority — provider quality near you.
Methodology
Figures are aggregated nationally from the real per-provider weekly wait-band counts in NHS England's April 2026 Consultant-led Referral to Treatment (RTT) Waiting Times full CSV extract (20260430-RTT-April-2026-full-extract.csv, incomplete pathways). For each treatment function, “patients waiting” sums all weekly wait bands (known clock start), “within 18 weeks” is the share in the first 18 bands, the median is the band where the cumulative distribution crosses 50% (linear-interpolated), and “over 52 weeks” counts patients waiting more than a year. No estimates or survey data are mixed in. Reference period: April 2026.
Contains public sector information published by NHS England and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: NHS England — Consultant-led Referral to Treatment (RTT) Waiting Times (April 2026, published June 2026). Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This directory is not affiliated with NHS England.