How long is the NHS waiting list now?
This is surprisingly difficult to answer. It is easier to ask how long will I wait?
The following information comes from NHS England in September 2023.
The short answer is under 15 weeks (nearly 4 months) in England (for hospital referral for operations and non-operations). But most hospitals do not publish their average waiting times (they should). But you can find out your local information. Though, yes, it is hard to find. One way is to look at data in the minutes of the board meetings in your local hospital.
The longer answer is that this ‘average 4 month’ figure is misleading, as it is (by definition) an average. The range is very wide, from 2 weeks to one year. And it is very different for an operation that is not an emergency but has to be done rapidly; compared to a non-rapid, non-emergency one like a hip replacement or cataracts. So the more rapid ones improve the average.
Either way, there are currently about 7.8 million waiting for outpatient treatment for more than a year.
All this information includes all referrals from a GP to a hospital specialist – i.e. not just for an operation. It could be a referral to a diabetic or heart specialist, when no surgery is required. And the waiting time to see consultants who are not surgeons is much less (it can be less than 2 months) than for surgeons. So this also improves the average.
There is another way of looking at it. The NHS Constitution (in England) sets a standard that 92 per cent of people should wait no more than 18 weeks (about 4 months) or less, for a planned (non-urgent) treatment – for example, cataract surgery or a hip replacement – from GP referral to the start of treatment. This standard is called Referral-to-Treatment (or RTT). Currently 57.6% wait less than 18 weeks from GP referral to hospital treatment. This is not good.
The standard was last met in February 2016, since when performance has declined steadily until the COVID-19 pandemic when it deteriorated rapidly.
Summary
We have described how long is the NHS waiting list now – about 4 months. We are really sorry this performance is so poor. We are trying to improve.
Last Reviewed on 9 March 2024