Research

How much does NHS waiting time vary by Trust for the same specialty?

Reviewed by PlainNHS · · Source: NHS England

The variation picture

Across 19 specialties with at least 20 English providers and 500 incomplete pathways each, the largest bounded spread is >35–<37 weeks for Other - Other Services. The spread is an interval because the source reports bands, not individual waits.

>35–<37 weeks
Largest provider spread interval
19
Qualifying specialties

Specialty = RTT treatment function, not a single operation. Floor: 500 incomplete pathways and 20+ providers. Vintage September 2026.

Question

For the same NHS specialty, how much does the median wait differ between the fastest and slowest provider in England? These retrospective lists can inform questions about providers, but cannot predict an individual appointment or clinical outcome.

Method

For each treatment function in NHS England's monthly Referral-to-Treatment release, we took every English provider with at least 500 patients on an incomplete pathway, derived that provider's median wait from its published one-week waiting bands, and computed interval bounds for the minimum, maximum, provider mean and spread. Open intervals remain open; missing medians remain unreported. Specialties with fewer than 20 qualifying providers are excluded. RTT is collected by specialty, not by individual operation, so these are whole-specialty queues rather than single-procedure waits.

These bands describe elapsed waits among pathways still waiting at the stated period end, not time until an appointment or completed treatment. A range such as 3–<4 includes 3 but excludes 4 weeks; >3–4 excludes 3 and includes 4. 13+ has no upper bound; >104 means more than 104 weeks. Chart bars mark the finite upper bound or, for open bands, the lower bound; tied bands cannot rank individual waits.

Results, spread in median wait by specialty (ranked)

SpecialtyProvidersFastestSlowestMeanSpread
Other - Other Services 62 2–3 wks 38–39 wks >9.3–10.4 wks >35–<37 wks
Rheumatology Service 90 3–4 wks 29–30 wks >10.4–11.5 wks >25–<27 wks
Neurology Service 84 3–4 wks 28–29 wks >12.7–13.8 wks >24–<26 wks
Trauma and Orthopaedic Service 222 4–5 wks 28–29 wks >12.5–13.6 wks >23–<25 wks
General Surgery Service 124 3–4 wks 27–28 wks >12.8–13.9 wks >23–<25 wks
Ear Nose and Throat Service 123 0–1 wks 24–25 wks >13.6–14.7 wks >23–<25 wks
Gastroenterology Service 122 0–1 wks 23–24 wks >10.3–11.4 wks >22–<24 wks
Dermatology Service 108 2–3 wks 23–24 wks >9.5–10.6 wks >20–<22 wks
Other - Medical Services 125 3–4 wks 24–25 wks >9.8–10.9 wks >20–<22 wks
Oral Surgery Service 105 7–8 wks 27–28 wks >15.5–16.6 wks >19–<21 wks
Other - Paediatric Services 100 3–4 wks 21–22 wks >10.7–11.8 wks >17–<19 wks
Gynaecology Service 131 4–5 wks 21–22 wks >13–14.1 wks >16–<18 wks
Other - Surgical Services 104 1–2 wks 18–19 wks >10–11.1 wks >16–<18 wks
Cardiology Service 120 4–5 wks 20–21 wks >11.1–12.1 wks >15–<17 wks
Respiratory Medicine Service 109 3–4 wks 19–20 wks >9.2–10.3 wks >15–<17 wks
Urology Service 116 3–4 wks 18–19 wks >11.6–12.7 wks >14–<16 wks
Plastic Surgery Service 44 7–8 wks 22–23 wks >13.2–14.3 wks >14–<16 wks
Ophthalmology Service 171 4–5 wks 17–18 wks >8.9–10 wks >12–<14 wks
Neurosurgical Service 24 8–9 wks 18–19 wks >12.2–13.3 wks >9–<11 wks

Spread between the fastest and slowest provider, by specialty

Difference in median wait (weeks) across English providers with 500+ patients on an incomplete pathway

Other - Others: >35–<37 weeksOther - Others>35–<37 weeksRheumatology: >25–<27 weeksRheumatology>25–<27 weeksNeurology: >24–<26 weeksNeurology>24–<26 weeksTrauma and Orthopaedic: >23–<25 weeksTrauma and Orthopaedic>23–<25 weeksGeneral Surgery: >23–<25 weeksGeneral Surgery>23–<25 weeksEar Nose and Throat: >23–<25 weeksEar Nose and Throat>23–<25 weeksGastroenterology: >22–<24 weeksGastroenterology>22–<24 weeksDermatology: >20–<22 weeksDermatology>20–<22 weeksOther - Medicals: >20–<22 weeksOther - Medicals>20–<22 weeksOral Surgery: >19–<21 weeksOral Surgery>19–<21 weeksOther - Paediatrics: >17–<19 weeksOther - Paediatrics>17–<19 weeksGynaecology: >16–<18 weeksGynaecology>16–<18 weeks

Slowest provider's median wait, by specialty

The worst median wait any qualifying English provider reports for each specialty (weeks)

Other - Others: 38–39 weeksOther - Others38–39 weeksRheumatology: 29–30 weeksRheumatology29–30 weeksNeurology: 28–29 weeksNeurology28–29 weeksTrauma and Orthopaedic: 28–29 weeksTrauma and Orthopaedic28–29 weeksGeneral Surgery: 27–28 weeksGeneral Surgery27–28 weeksEar Nose and Throat: 24–25 weeksEar Nose and Throat24–25 weeksGastroenterology: 23–24 weeksGastroenterology23–24 weeksDermatology: 23–24 weeksDermatology23–24 weeksOther - Medicals: 24–25 weeksOther - Medicals24–25 weeksOral Surgery: 27–28 weeksOral Surgery27–28 weeksOther - Paediatrics: 21–22 weeksOther - Paediatrics21–22 weeksGynaecology: 21–22 weeksGynaecology21–22 weeks

Implications

The data show that median wait varies meaningfully by Trust for every common procedure tracked. For elective procedures with multi-week spreads, orthopaedic joint replacement, ENT, and some general-surgery procedures, these historical specialty bands describe different waiting lists; they cannot establish how a different referral would change an individual wait or care.

Diagnostic procedures (MRI, CT, colonoscopy) typically show narrower spreads, partly because NHS Diagnostic Capacity Networks are pooling appointment slots across Trusts to reduce inter-Trust variation. Even there, however, single-week shifts are meaningful for time-sensitive presentations.

How to use these numbers

When you and your GP discuss a referral, ask to be shown the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) provider list for your specialty. Use the procedure index on PlainNHS to identify which Trusts have the shortest median wait for your procedure. If you live near a regional boundary, the alternative may not be the geographically closest Trust.

Source attribution