ENT RTT specialty queue Vintage June 2026

Tonsillectomy

Surgical removal of the tonsils.

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Reviewed by PlainNHS ·

Median wait

15 weeks

Near 18-week clock · national median for the Ear Nose and Throat specialty

90th percentile

39 weeks

Very long queue · 9 in 10 patients treated within

Annual NHS volume

32,000

Approx. completed pathways / year

Pick a profiled NHS Trust to open a side-by-side wait comparison for tonsillectomy against another trust you choose next.

15 weeks median for the Ear Nose and Throat specialty

National median for tonsillectomy is 15 weeks (90th percentile 39), on about 32,000 completed pathways a year. Among the 10 trusts PlainNHS profiles, medians run from Kings College Hospital at 7 weeks to Cambridge University Hospitals at 17 weeks. English providers with large lists span about 1 to 25 weeks. Source: NHS England RTT statistics, period RTT-June-2026.

  • Among 10 profiled trusts, Kings College Hospital is fastest at 7 weeks vs Cambridge University Hospitals at 17
  • English large-list specialty medians span about 1 to 25 weeks for this queue
  • About 32,000 completed pathways a year nationally for tonsillectomy

The wait picture

National median for tonsillectomy is 15 weeks (90th percentile 39), on about 32,000 completed pathways a year. Among the 10 trusts PlainNHS profiles, medians run from Kings College Hospital at 7 weeks to Cambridge University Hospitals at 17 weeks. English providers with large lists span about 1 to 25 weeks.

15 wks
National median wait for the Ear Nose and Throat specialty
39 wks
90th percentile (9 in 10 treated within)
7 wks
Fastest profiled trust (Kings College Hospital)
17 wks
Slowest profiled trust (Cambridge University Hospitals)

Profiled trusts: 10. Figures are specialty-level RTT queues, not single-operation forecasts. Period RTT-June-2026.

How to read this pathway

ENT pathways such as tonsillectomy are measured on NHS England's consultant-led Referral-to-Treatment (RTT) incomplete-pathway standard - 92% within 18 weeks from GP referral to treatment start. ENT lists often run longer than the headline national median, which is why the specialty spread below is worth reading alongside the national figure.

Patients have a statutory right to choose their treating Trust at the point of GP referral. NHS England collects these figures by specialty, not by procedure, so the chart and table show the wait for the specialty that performs Tonsillectomy, not for that operation alone.

Ear Nose and Throat Service median at profiled trusts

Sorted ascending. Specialty-level RTT incomplete pathways for the queue this procedure sits in. Period RTT-June-2026.

Kings College Hospital: 7 wksKings College Hospital7 wksNewcastle Upon Tyne Hospital: 10 wksNewcastle Upon Tyne Hospital10 wksGuys and St Thomas: 14 wksGuys and St Thomas14 wksImperial College Healthcare: 14 wksImperial College Healthcare14 wksManchester University: 15 wksManchester University15 wksRoyal Free London: 15 wksRoyal Free London15 wksUniversity College London Ho: 15 wksUniversity College London Ho15 wksLeeds Teaching Hospitals: 16 wksLeeds Teaching Hospitals16 wksCambridge University Hospita: 17 wksCambridge University Hospita17 wksOxford University Hospitals: 17 wksOxford University Hospitals17 wks
Median wait (weeks) for Tonsillectomy at profiled trusts

Share within 18 weeks at profiled trusts

Sorted descending. Same NHS England return as the median chart; useful when choosing between trusts on the same pathway.

Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospital: 78.9%Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospital78.9%Kings College Hospital: 78.7%Kings College Hospital78.7%Imperial College Healthcare: 62.6%Imperial College Healthcare62.6%Royal Free London: 59.7%Royal Free London59.7%University College London Ho: 59.7%University College London Ho59.7%Guys and St Thomas: 59.6%Guys and St Thomas59.6%Manchester University: 58.8%Manchester University58.8%Leeds Teaching Hospitals: 55%Leeds Teaching Hospitals55%Oxford University Hospitals: 54.5%Oxford University Hospitals54.5%Cambridge University Hospita: 53.6%Cambridge University Hospita53.6%
Share of pathways within 18 weeks (Tonsillectomy, profiled trusts)

Ear Nose and Throat Service waits at profiled trusts

Median and 92nd-percentile waits for the specialty that performs Tonsillectomy, from NHS England's incomplete-pathways return for RTT-June-2026. These are whole-specialty figures covering every condition that specialty treats, so they describe the queue Tonsillectomy sits in rather than that operation on its own. Waits are reported in one-week bands: a median of 12 means the middle patient has waited more than 11 and at most 12 weeks.

NHS Trust Region CQC Median (wks) 92nd pct (wks) Within 18wks Waiting
Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust London Requires improvement 7 31 78.7% 703
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust North East Requires improvement 10 29 78.9% 8,706
Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust London Good 14 38 59.6% 5,685
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust London Requires improvement 14 36 62.6% 7,605
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust North West 15 40 58.8% 8,911
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust London Requires improvement 15 41 59.7% 10,138
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust London Good 15 39 59.7% 6,953
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Yorkshire & Humber Requires improvement 16 51 55% 3,437
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust East of England Good 17 46 53.6% 3,648
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust South East Requires improvement 17 44 54.5% 7,119

Source: NHS England consultant-led RTT waiting times, incomplete pathways, RTT-June-2026. Covers the 10 profiled trusts that report to NHS England; providers outside NHS England's remit, including Scottish health boards, are not in this return.

Find your provider's Ear Nose and Throat Service wait

Every one of the 147 English NHS providers reporting a specialty-level RTT return for Ear Nose and Throat Service in RTT-June-2026, ranked fastest to slowest. Search by name or filter by region to find where your own hospital sits nationally. A wider view than the profiled-trusts table above, which is limited to the trusts this site covers in depth. Only providers with 100 or more incomplete pathways are included.

Showing 5 of 147 providers.

Rank Provider Region Median (wks) Within 18wks Waiting
24 COMMUNITAS CLINICS NHS SOUTH WEST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 10 80.8% 3,848
27 EPSOM AND ST HELIER UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS TRUST NHS SOUTH WEST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 10 76.3% 2,325
66 ST GEORGE'S UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST NHS SOUTH WEST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 14 61.7% 5,114
70 KINGSTON AND RICHMOND NHS FOUNDATION TRUST NHS SOUTH WEST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 14 64.1% 3,937
138 CROYDON HEALTH SERVICES NHS TRUST NHS SOUTH WEST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 20 47.4% 2,213

Source: NHS England consultant-led RTT waiting times, incomplete pathways, RTT-June-2026. Most providers below are outside this site's profiled-trust roster and so have no linked page. RTT is collected by specialty, never by individual procedure.

Ear Nose and Throat Service waits by NHS region

The same 147-provider return above, grouped by NHS commissioning region instead of ranked by provider. NHS LANCASHIRE AND SOUTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE BOARD has the fastest typical provider (median of provider medians 9 weeks, 7 providers); NHS COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD the slowest (23 weeks, 3 providers). This describes where providers typically sit, not a single guaranteed wait for every patient in that region.

Region Providers Median of medians (wks) Range (wks)
NHS LANCASHIRE AND SOUTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 7 9 7–12
NHS BRISTOL, NORTH SOMERSET AND SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 9.5 8–11
NHS CORNWALL AND THE ISLES OF SCILLY INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 1 10 10–10
NHS NORTH EAST AND NORTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 6 11 8–16
NHS BIRMINGHAM AND SOLIHULL INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 1 12 12–12
NHS THAMES VALLEY INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 4 12.5 10–17
NHS WEST YORKSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 7 13 1–16
NHS HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 7 13 7–21
NHS NORTH EAST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 4 13 9–20
NHS SOUTH YORKSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 4 13.5 10–18
NHS NOTTINGHAM AND NOTTINGHAMSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 13.5 13–14
NHS CHESHIRE AND MERSEYSIDE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 9 14 6–17
NHS SURREY AND SUSSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 9 14 6–19
NHS SOUTH EAST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 3 14 7–17
NHS KENT AND MEDWAY INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 5 14 7–20
NHS SOUTH WEST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 5 14 10–20
NHS DEVON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 14 11–17
NHS HUMBER AND NORTH YORKSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 5 14 11–18
NHS ESSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 6 14.5 5–25
NHS DERBY AND DERBYSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 14.5 12–17
NHS SHROPSHIRE, TELFORD AND WREKIN INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 14.5 14–15
NHS GREATER MANCHESTER INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 9 15 7–18
NHS WEST AND NORTH LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 9 15 7–18
NHS GLOUCESTERSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 1 15 15–15
NHS STAFFORDSHIRE AND STOKE-ON-TRENT INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 1 15 15–15
NHS SOMERSET INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 15.5 15–16
NHS NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 4 16 12–22
NHS BLACK COUNTRY INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 5 16 12–40
NHS DORSET INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 16 15–17
NHS BATH AND NORTH EAST SOMERSET, SWINDON AND WILTSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 4 16 15–17
NHS CENTRAL EAST INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 8 16.5 8–21
NHS HEREFORDSHIRE AND WORCESTERSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 16.5 15–18
NHS LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 1 17 17–17
NHS NORTHAMPTONSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 2 17.5 17–18
NHS LINCOLNSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 1 19 19–19
NHS COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD 3 23 15–23

Source: same NHS England return as the provider search above (RTT-June-2026). Region is the provider's NHS commissioning region, not the patient's home region.

The national queue behind this figure

The national median above (15 weeks) sits behind 595,473 open Ear Nose and Throat Service pathways across every English provider in June 2026, with 59% of them within the 18-week standard, 41 weeks marks the slowest 8% (92nd percentile). The profiled trusts above (1–25 weeks) run either side of that national median.

Source: NHS England consultant-led RTT waiting times, national all-provider total (June 2026), the England-wide figure the per-trust breakdown above is drawn from, not a further trust.

Month-on-month specialty queue movement

Across every English provider reporting Ear Nose and Throat Service, the incomplete-pathway total moved from 595,204 in May 2026 to 595,473 in June 2026 (+269 pathways). The share within 18 weeks went from 58.9% to 59% (+0.1 percentage points) , while the average provider median stayed near 13.8 weeks (was 14.1). Procedures that sit in this specialty share that queue movement; it is not a single-operation forecast.

Source: NHS England consultant-led RTT provider×specialty history (May 2026 → June 2026), England-wide aggregate for this treatment function.

Which providers moved most for Ear Nose and Throat Service?

The England-wide aggregate above blends every provider's queue together, so it can mask an individual trust getting sharply better or worse. Ranking providers with at least 100 incomplete pathways in both May 2026 and June 2026 by the change in their 18-week share shows which named trusts are actually driving that movement.

Most improved

  • SPIRE HULL AND EAST RIDING HOSPITAL (NHS HUMBER AND NORTH YORKSHIRE INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) +18.9pp (54.7%→73.6%)
  • RENACRES HOSPITAL (NHS LANCASHIRE AND SOUTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) +8.8pp (57.4%→66.2%)
  • LONDON NORTH WEST UNIVERSITY HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST (NHS WEST AND NORTH LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) +8pp (48.3%→56.3%)
  • KING'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (NHS SOUTH EAST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) +7.8pp (70.9%→78.7%)
  • COMMUNITAS CLINICS (NHS SOUTH WEST LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) +7pp (73.8%→80.8%)

Most worsened

  • RIVERS HOSPITAL (NHS CENTRAL EAST INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) -14.9pp (54.8%→39.9%)
  • WHITTINGTON HEALTH NHS TRUST (NHS WEST AND NORTH LONDON INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) -10pp (71.6%→61.6%)
  • NUFFIELD HEALTH THE HOLLY HOSPITAL (NHS ESSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) -8.7pp (91.4%→82.7%)
  • PRACTICE PLUS GROUP HOSPITAL - SOUTHAMPTON (NHS HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) -8.1pp (50.2%→42.1%)
  • SPRINGFIELD HOSPITAL (NHS ESSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD) -6.6pp (72.5%→65.9%)

Source: NHS England consultant-led RTT provider×specialty history, providers with ≥100 incomplete Ear Nose and Throat Service pathways in both periods shown.

18-week RTT incomplete-pathway standard

NHS England's consultant-led Referral-to-Treatment (RTT) incomplete-pathway standard is that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from GP referral to treatment start. The national specialty median on this page for the Ear Nose and Throat specialty is 15 weeks; the 90th percentile is 39 weeks (period RTT-June-2026).

Share of profiled-trust pathways within 18 weeks

Across the 10 trusts PlainNHS profiles (62,905 people still waiting in the RTT-June-2026 return), a waiting-list-weighted 61.6% of pathways were within 18 weeks. That is a roll-up of the per-trust shares in the chart above, not a second NHS England figure.

Choosing an ENT trust at referral

ENT pathways such as tonsillectomy are referred through the NHS e-Referral Service. At the point of GP referral you can ask to see ENT providers. PlainNHS does not book appointments; it publishes the specialty waits from NHS England so you can compare listed trusts before the referral is locked in.

Read with this pathway

Monthly RTT release cadence

The figures on this page refresh when PlainNHS ingests the next NHS England consultant-led RTT release for ENT. The data vintage in the hero and the period labels on the charts are the ones currently on file (RTT-June-2026).

Where to see what moved

What to do with this pathway

Use the published waits for Tonsillectomy before you contact your GP or the trust's PALS.

  • National median wait is 15 weeks (90th percentile 39 weeks on the June 2026 return). See Kings profile
  • Put two trusts on the same monthly RTT or DM01 return side by side. Compare trusts
  • Read how the 18-week clock and incomplete-pathway counts are defined. RTT guide

Statistical waiting times only, not medical advice or a prediction for your case.

Answers, sources and standards

Check the evidence behind this page

Start with the common questions, then follow the primary sources used for the figures above.

Common ENT wait and NHS-cost questions

How much does tonsillectomy cost on the NHS?

NHS-funded tonsillectomy in England carries no charge to the patient at the point of use for people ordinarily resident in the UK — the “free at the point of delivery” principle set out in the NHS Constitution for England. PlainNHS publishes official NHS waiting times, not private or insurer-funded prices: we hold no source we can attribute for private fees, so we do not publish them. What this page does record is the length of the NHS queue — a national median of 15 weeks, with a 90th percentile of 39 weeks. Which routes the NHS funds is set out in our guide to when the NHS pays for private treatment.

Primary sources

Data current as of

About the portal

PlainNHS

An independent public-data reference that compiles NHS England waiting-time statistics and Care Quality Commission ratings. It accepts no payment from NHS trusts or any covered entity, and advertising placements do not influence editorial presentation.

Important: Statistical waiting times do not predict the timing of any individual case. This page is not medical advice; speak to your GP, NHS 111, or the treating Trust for specific clinical decisions.

Source: NHS England Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting times · RTT-June-2026

Compiled from official public sources by the publisher.

Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Report a correction.

PlainNHS procedure pages are rendered directly from NHS England RTT and diagnostic (DM01) releases, no number is typed in by an editor. Median and provider waits for Tonsillectomy come from the live specialty or diagnostic 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.