Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Five-hospital London trust including St Marys, Charing Cross, and Hammersmith.
RTT 18-week
70.6%
Far below standard
Waiting list
84,008
incomplete pathways across 22 specialties
Waiting 52+ weeks
28
Low 52+ burden
CQC rating
Requires improvement
Published 2019-07-23
The wait picture
Imperial College Healthcare ranks 118 of 266 English NHS providers with waiting lists above 1,000 on the 18-week RTT standard (70.6% within standard; 84,008 incomplete pathways). Longest published specialty median here: Plastic Surgery at 16 weeks.
- 70.6%
- Incomplete pathways within 18 weeks
- 84,008
- Incomplete pathways on the list
- 16 wks
- Longest specialty median (Plastic Surgery)
- 28
- Patients waiting 52+ weeks
Ranked on NHS England's RTT-June-2026 incomplete-pathway return against every English provider with a list above 1,000 (not only the trusts PlainNHS profiles). Specialty charts use rows with ≥100 incomplete pathways.
Care Quality Commission · Imperial College Healthcare
Effective rated Good; Safe rated Requires improvement
On CQC's file, Imperial College Healthcare's strongest published key question is Effective (Good); the weakest is Safe (Requires improvement), dated 2019-07-23. Overall is Requires improvement. These are inspection findings, not a forecast of any individual wait. How to read CQC bands. CQC provider page.
- Safe
- Effective
- Caring
- Responsive
- Well-led
Published performance context
How this profile sits in the published data
PlainNHS converts the measures below into percentiles within the named comparison groups, then combines them into a transparent context score. It is not a clinical-quality rating, a referral recommendation, or a prediction of an individual wait. The official source values remain the decision-relevant record.
63/100 context score. Weights automatically redistribute when a source value is unavailable.
- 18-week standard: 56th percentile (50% weight)
70.6% of incomplete pathways were within 18 weeks. 266 English providers with 1,000+ incomplete pathways. Source: NHS England RTT incomplete-pathway return. - 52-week burden: 79th percentile (30% weight)
0.3 patients waiting 52+ weeks per 1,000 incomplete pathways. 266 English providers with 1,000+ incomplete pathways. Source: NHS England RTT incomplete-pathway return. - Published CQC band: 56th percentile (20% weight)
CQC overall rating: Requires improvement. 10 profiled English trusts with a matched CQC overall rating. Source: Care Quality Commission published provider rating.
A percentile describes this publication's comparison group, not care quality or likely treatment timing. CQC inspection bands and RTT operational data measure different things and should be read separately as well as together.
NHS England RTT incomplete return
Imperial College Healthcare incomplete-pathway return June 2026 · provider×specialty
Imperial College Healthcare · 70.6% within 18w · #118/266 · 84,008 incomplete
Imperial College Healthcare line from NHS England's consultant-led incomplete-pathway return (RTT-June-2026), compared with nearest within-18-week peers outside London. How RTT works → · Compare two trusts →
Specialty median waits at Imperial College Healthcare
Sorted ascending. Incomplete pathways with ≥100 patients from NHS England's consultant-led RTT return (RTT-June-2026). Showing the four shortest and twelve longest of 22 published specialties.
Share within 18 weeks by specialty
Sorted descending. Same specialty set as the median chart; useful when comparing queues inside this trust.
Waiting times by specialty
Incomplete pathways from NHS England's consultant-led RTT provider return. Longest published median on this trust: Plastic Surgery Service (16 weeks). RTT is reported by treatment function (specialty), not by individual operation - a hernia repair sits inside General Surgery, not as its own row.
| Specialty | Median wait | 92nd percentile | Within 18 weeks | Waiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other - Other Services | 4 wks | 16 wks | 93.6% | 392 |
| Other - Paediatric Services | 8 wks | 24 wks | 83.7% | 4,254 |
| Rheumatology Service | 8 wks | 24 wks | 86% | 614 |
| Other - Medical Services | 9 wks | 29 wks | 78.6% | 13,074 |
| Respiratory Medicine Service | 9 wks | 25 wks | 80.4% | 2,309 |
| Ophthalmology Service | 9 wks | 31 wks | 77.6% | 5,236 |
| Oral Surgery Service | 9 wks | 23 wks | 82.6% | 511 |
| Gastroenterology Service | 9 wks | 21 wks | 89.6% | 2,982 |
| Gynaecology Service | 10 wks | 35 wks | 69.8% | 6,573 |
| Dermatology Service | 10 wks | 33 wks | 73.8% | 4,329 |
| Cardiothoracic Surgery Service | 10 wks | 30 wks | 73.8% | 573 |
| Elderly Medicine Service | 10 wks | 32 wks | 69.3% | 306 |
| General Internal Medicine Service | 11 wks | 32 wks | 70.2% | 114 |
| Cardiology Service | 12 wks | 33 wks | 68.7% | 8,032 |
| Trauma and Orthopaedic Service | 13 wks | 35 wks | 63.9% | 3,151 |
| Other - Surgical Services | 13 wks | 37 wks | 64.7% | 9,201 |
| Urology Service | 14 wks | 37 wks | 61.8% | 3,674 |
| Ear Nose and Throat Service | 14 wks | 36 wks | 62.6% | 7,605 |
| Neurosurgical Service | 14 wks | 37 wks | 63.4% | 3,030 |
| General Surgery Service | 15 wks | 41 wks | 60% | 2,201 |
| Plastic Surgery Service | 16 wks | 39 wks | 55.6% | 1,975 |
| Neurology Service | 16 wks | 36 wks | 57.6% | 3,872 |
Source: NHS England Referral-to-Treatment (RTT) waiting times, RTT-June-2026. Specialties with fewer than 100 incomplete pathways are omitted. View source
Diagnostic test waiting times
NHS England's monthly Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity (DM01) return for Imperial College Healthcare, by test type. This tracks scans and investigations, separate from the specialty treatment waits above.
| Test | Median wait | Within 6 weeks | Over 13 weeks | Waiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cystoscopy | 5 wks | 98.7% | 3 | 398 |
| Sleep Studies | 5 wks | 85.4% | 3 | 618 |
| Electrophysiology | 4 wks | 96.3% | 1 | 27 |
| Audiology Assessments | 3 wks | 96.4% | 3 | 804 |
| Colonoscopy | 3 wks | 99.1% | 0 | 759 |
| DEXA Scan | 3 wks | 99.1% | 0 | 759 |
| Echocardiography | 3 wks | 94.9% | 10 | 1,286 |
| Flexi Sigmoidoscopy | 3 wks | 100% | 0 | 122 |
| Gastroscopy | 3 wks | 99.3% | 0 | 728 |
| MRI | 3 wks | 82.9% | 33 | 4,314 |
| Non Obstetric Ultrasound | 3 wks | 92.3% | 21 | 5,671 |
| Urodynamics | 3 wks | 95.2% | 0 | 63 |
| Barium Enema | 2 wks | 96.7% | 1 | 183 |
| CT | 2 wks | 98.5% | 2 | 1,792 |
| Peripheral Neurophys | 2 wks | 100% | 0 | 302 |
Source: NHS England Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity (DM01), DM01-MAY-2026. Tests with fewer than 20 patients waiting are omitted. View source
Other NHS Trusts in London
Trusts with a similar RTT profile
Other English trusts with a within-18-week share within 2.5 percentage points of Imperial College Healthcare's 70.6%, ranked by closeness, outside London.
Trusts moving similarly this month
Peers whose within-18-week share moved in the same direction by a similar amount between RTT-May-2026 and RTT-June-2026. Imperial College Healthcare's change: +0.5 pp.
Longest mapped procedure waits at this trust
Procedure pages joined to this trust's slowest RTT treatment functions on file. Use them to compare national medians and per-trust tables.
- Hernia Repair (15 wks median at this trust)
- Varicose Vein Treatment (15 wks median at this trust)
- Gallbladder Removal (Cholecystectomy) (15 wks median at this trust)
- Tonsillectomy (14 wks median at this trust)
What to do next
Use Imperial College Healthcare's published RTT return before you chase a clinical answer.
- Imperial College Healthcare reported 70.6% of incomplete pathways within 18 weeks (84,008 waiting across 22 specialties on the June 2026 return). Compare with another trust
- Longest median wait at this trust on file: Hernia Repair (15 weeks). Open procedure profile
- Read how the 18-week clock and incomplete-pathway counts are defined in NHS England’s monthly release. RTT guide
Published operational data only, not medical advice. Contact your GP, NHS 111, or the treating trust for clinical decisions.
Source: NHS England Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting times · RTT-June-2026 CQC overall + five key-question ratings matched from the Care Quality Commission published provider file (cqc_provider_ratings).
Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Report a correction.
PlainNHS trust pages are rendered directly from NHS England RTT provider returns and matched CQC overall ratings, no number is typed in by an editor. Specialty waits and within-18-week shares for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust come from the live provider×specialty return on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Data current as of RTT-June-2026. Figures here are for context and comparison; clinical pathway decisions belong with your GP, NHS 111, or the treating Trust.