About PlainNHS

Our mission is to make English NHS waiting-time data freely accessible to patients, journalists, and researchers. PlainNHS aggregates NHS England referral-to-treatment and diagnostic statistics, plus Care Quality Commission overall ratings for the trusts we profile - and presents them with one entity per page, plain-language framing, and a citation to the source agency on every value.

We are not affiliated with the NHS, NHS England, or the Care Quality Commission. We do not accept compensation from NHS Trusts or any entity covered on the site.

What we cover

• NHS Trusts - referral-to-treatment waits by specialty, diagnostic (DM01) waits where reported, and matched CQC overall ratings.
• Procedures - median waiting times by NHS Trust for the pathways we track.
• Comparison - side-by-side comparison of any two NHS Trusts on the same procedure.

PlainNHS currently profiles 12 NHS Trusts and 10 procedures, with 10 CQC overall ratings matched from the regulator's published file - a selected subset, not England's full provider landscape. We do not publish A&E 4-hour series, cancer waiting-time series, or primary-care surgery directories on this site (pathway guides may still explain how those standards work). The current entity count is always shown on the homepage.

Our editorial process

We download raw datasets directly from upstream publishers through documented ETL pipelines. Numeric values on entity pages come from the source agency unmodified. Plain-language framing and explanatory copy are drafted from the underlying data and verified against the official source before publication. The methodology page documents the pipeline in detail.

Every published page is verifiable against the cited NHS source - no fabricated numbers, no extrapolated figures. When a number cannot be derived consistently across the dataset, we disclose the gap or omit the comparison rather than present misleading data.

Who publishes this

PlainNHS is operated by Kiznis Studio, an independent data-engineering studio (solo-operated). Questions, corrections, and accountability inquiries can be sent to hello@plainnhs.co.uk. We do not list pseudonymous staff or fabricated editorial credentials.

How we work in more detail

For the long-form explanation of editorial sourcing and review process, see how we work. For corrections policy see corrections.

Data sources

Every figure on PlainNHS comes from upstream publishers releasing under the UK Open Government Licence v3.0:

• NHS England Statistics - monthly RTT waiting times and diagnostic (DM01) waiting times and activity. Source URL: england.nhs.uk/statistics.
• Care Quality Commission - published provider overall ratings matched to the trusts we profile. Source URL: cqc.org.uk.

Coverage is England-focused. Devolved-nation series are out of scope until upstream publications are parallel enough for honest comparison.

Data currency

NHS performance data is published monthly, typically with a one-to-two-month lag. PlainNHS refreshes within one week of each upstream release. Every entity page shows the data vintage next to the figures.

We do not interpolate, extrapolate, or backfill missing values. If a Trust has not yet been included in a published release, the page shows “Not reported” rather than imputing a value.

What makes PlainNHS different

• One entity per page. Each NHS Trust and procedure has a dedicated URL with relevant waits and context.
• Plain-language framing alongside the numbers. Each page reads the figures in plain English for a patient or carer audience.

We are not a replacement for the source publications. For clinical guidance or formal data analysis, go directly to NHS England or the CQC.

Site changelog

Material data-pipeline and methodology changes are listed with dates on the data changelog. Routine monthly NHS England refreshes are reflected in the data vintage on each entity page.

What we choose not to publish

• Personal data about clinicians. We do not publish individual GP names, consultant profiles, or staff identifiers at a Trust. The organisation is the unit of accountability in the returns we use.
• Patient-level information. No identifiable patient rows appear anywhere on PlainNHS. All figures are published aggregates from NHS England or the CQC.
• A&E, cancer waiting-time series, and primary-care surgery directories on this site. Those series live in separate official publications we have not yet ingested honestly.
• Imputed values or clinical advice. Missing cells stay missing. Pathway choice remains a conversation with a clinician, not a ranking on this site.

How to use a Trust page

Start with the reporting period next to each figure. Compare the Trust's incomplete-pathway share within 18 weeks against the regional peer block on the same page. Then open the procedure table for the pathway you care about and read the median and 90th-percentile waits. If a CQC overall band is present, treat it as an inspection finding, not a wait forecast.

Use the compare tool when you want two Trusts on the same procedure side by side. Use the guides when you need the definition of the 18-week standard, Choose and Book rights, or how CQC bands are labelled. Use the research papers when you want fleet-level patterns rather than a single Trust row.

If a number looks wrong, check the vintage first, then the upstream NHS England or CQC file linked from methodology. Corrections requests go to the contact address below; we log material fixes on the corrections page.

Independence and funding

PlainNHS is operated by an independent publisher with no financial relationship with any NHS Trust, NHS England directorate, or the CQC. The site is funded by clearly labelled display advertising that does not influence coverage or framing.

We do not sell sponsored Trust placements, do not accept payment for editorial coverage, and do not run native advertising that looks like data. Ad labels stay visible. Editorial decisions about which Trusts to profile follow data availability and reader usefulness, not advertiser demand.

Why this exists

Our purpose is simple: put the same open NHS waiting-time figures a specialist already uses into a form a referred patient can read before the GP appointment. Official statistical portals are built for analysts. We believe the Choose and Book conversation works better when both sides can see the same provider-level medians and CQC overall band on one page.

We built PlainNHS to answer practical questions: which Trusts on this pathway report shorter incomplete waits right now, how a Trust sits against regional peers on the 18-week standard, and whether a published CQC overall rating is available for that organisation. That is the mission. We do not invent pathways, and we do not replace clinical judgement.

The long-term product goal is broader honest coverage as upstream files allow: more Trusts, more diagnostic tests, and clearer peer context, always with the vintage and the source link visible.

Limitations and disclaimer

Disclaimer: PlainNHS is not medical advice, not an NHS official channel, and not a substitute for your GP, NHS 111, or the treating Trust. Waiting-time figures are statistical aggregates. They do not predict the timing of any individual case. Always confirm referral and pathway details with the clinician responsible for your care.

Important caveats on the data itself: coverage is a selected subset of English Trusts, not a full national census; most regions currently have only a handful of profiled providers; case-mix is not adjusted; A&E 4-hour and cancer waiting-time series are not published here; Scotland follows a different regulator and referral framework. What the data cannot do is tell you which hospital is “best for you” as a clinical recommendation.

When an upstream cell is suppressed or missing we show “Not reported” rather than impute. Vintage dates sit next to every figure so you can see how current the file is.

Readers citing PlainNHS in journalism or advocacy should still pull the original NHS England or CQC release for the formal record. We are a navigation layer over those releases, not a replacement archive.

Contact

Corrections and editorial queries: contact page or hello@plainnhs.co.uk.

Press and methodology questions can use the same address. Please include the Trust or procedure URL and the reporting period you are looking at so we can reproduce the figure quickly.

We reply to corrections within five working days when the upstream file is accessible. If a release is embargoed or temporarily withdrawn, we note the delay on the corrections page rather than guess.

Security researchers may use the same inbox for responsible disclosure about this site only; we do not operate patient-facing NHS systems.

We do not publish bulk data exports by email; every figure remains on its cited page with the vintage shown.

That keeps corrections auditable and prevents stale spreadsheets from circulating without the source link.

Reader checklist

Before you act on a waiting-time figure from this site, confirm four things on the page itself.

First, read the data vintage next to the number and decide whether that month is recent enough for your conversation with a GP.

Second, check whether the figure is an incomplete-pathway share, a median wait, a 90th percentile, or a CQC overall band - those metrics answer different questions.

Third, look at the peer block or compare tool so you are not judging a Trust in isolation from the profiled subset.

Fourth, open the methodology outbound links if you need the original NHS England or CQC release for citation.

If any of those four checks fail, do not treat the page as decision-ready. Ask the treating Trust or your GP for the live pathway status instead.

PlainNHS exists to make those four checks faster, not to replace them.

We will keep expanding the Trust and procedure set as honest upstream coverage allows, and we will keep saying clearly what is still missing.

Regional bars on the homepage are computed from the same incomplete-pathway rows as Trust pages, so the national picture and the entity page stay on one data spine.

Guides explain standards in plain language; research pages show SQL-backed group patterns; neither invents a clinical recommendation.

When upstream publishers change a file layout, we pause the affected ingest rather than guess column mappings.

That pause can leave a vintage older than the newest NHS press release until the parser is updated and re-validated.

The homepage, about page, and methodology page are the place we document those pauses when they matter to readers.

If you represent a Trust we profile and spot a labelling error, email the contact address with the ODS code and the page URL.

We correct factual errors in the next editorial pass and note material fixes on the corrections log.

Thank you for reading PlainNHS carefully and for treating open NHS data as something that deserves verification, not vibes.

That verification habit is the whole product philosophy behind this publisher.

We would rather leave a cell blank than invent a wait that never appeared in the official return.

We would rather name a limitation in public than hide a coverage gap behind confident marketing copy.

And we would rather send you back to NHS England or the CQC than pretend this site is the formal record.

If that stance matches how you want waiting-time data presented, you are the reader we built for.

If you need clinical advice, start with NHS 111, your GP, or the treating Trust - not with a ranking page.

Those channels remain the authoritative path for individual care decisions in the English NHS.

PlainNHS will stay on that side of the line: open data, visible vintage, no invented waits.