A&E data for September 2026, published 8 October 2026 · Diagnostics (DM01) data for August 2026, published 8 October 2026 · Referral to treatment (RTT) data for August 2026, published 8 October 2026 · Page updated 2 November 2026
How long will I wait?
Official NHS waiting times near you, in plain English: A&E first, then scans, ADHD, autism, mental health and operations.
Short answer: In England, 74.4% of A&E attendances ended within 4 hours in September 2026 (standard 95%). At the end of August 2026, 78.0% of people waiting for an MRI scan and 88.8% waiting for a CT scan had waited under 6 weeks, and the median wait so far for planned hospital treatment was 12.2 weeks. Search your town for local figures, or compare NHS trusts.
Source: NHS England A&E and diagnostics (DM01) and referral to treatment (RTT) statistics, published 8 October 2026. These are past figures, not a forecast of how long you will wait.
Waits across England right now
The latest official figures for England. Search above for your area, or pick a service.
ADHD figures: NHS England counts open referrals that may be for ADHD. It describes these figures as management information and experimental statistics, so they are approximate and depend on how services record referrals.
Waiting for a hospital specialty? Compare NHS trust waits near your postcode for orthopaedics, eye care, ENT and other specialties (England).
Compare every trust side by side on compare NHS trusts, browse waiting times by region, or read our guides to NHS waiting times and your rights.
Find NHS trust waits near you by specialty
Enter your postcode to see the nearest NHS hospital trusts in England and how long their patients had been waiting in your specialty.
Compare hospital waiting times by specialty
England median wait so far for the six largest specialty waiting lists, end of August 2026. Each links to every NHS trust ranked for that specialty.
Source: NHS England referral to treatment (RTT) waiting times. Past figures, not a guarantee of how long a new patient will wait.
Surgery waiting times
At the end of August 2026, 4,369,316 pathways were waiting to start treatment in surgical specialties in England, and 85,644 had waited more than a year. See figures for orthopaedics, eye surgery, ENT, general surgery, urology and more, with the shortest and longest waits by trust.
Live A&E waits
Northern Ireland publishes live emergency department waits, which we show with their update time. Some hospitals in England publish their own, which we link to. See live A&E waits.
A&E in the other nations (spent 4 hours or less): Scotland 66.7% (Aug 2026) · Wales 63.9% (Sep 2026). Figures cover different periods and are not directly comparable (methods).
Latest analysis
- NHS diagnostic test waits in England: August 2026 explained 2 November 2026
- A&E waiting times in England: September 2026 figures explained 31 October 2026
Popular towns
- NHS waiting times in Birmingham
- NHS waiting times in Manchester
- NHS waiting times in Leeds
- NHS waiting times in Liverpool
- NHS waiting times in Sheffield
- NHS waiting times in Nottingham
- NHS waiting times in Leicester
- NHS waiting times in Glasgow
- NHS waiting times in Edinburgh
- NHS waiting times in Cardiff
- NHS waiting times in Belfast
- All towns
Frequently asked questions
Where do these waiting times come from?
From official statistics published by NHS England, Public Health Scotland, the Welsh Government (StatsWales) and the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, and live figures from nidirect, all used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How up to date are the figures?
Each figure shows its own date. A&E figures for England are for September 2026; diagnostics and treatment for August 2026. Live figures show the time the source last updated them, and Scottish A&E figures are weekly.
What does “4 hours in A&E” mean?
It is the share of A&E attendances that ended with the patient admitted, transferred or discharged within 4 hours of arriving. It is not the time until you are first seen.
Is Waiting Times UK part of the NHS?
No. It is an independent website. It is not medical advice: contact your GP, NHS 111 or, in an emergency, 999.
Sources and dates
| Official statistics | Reporting period | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| NHS England: A&E attendances and emergency admissions | September 2026 | 8 October 2026 | Official source |
| NHS England: Diagnostics waiting times (DM01) | August 2026 | 8 October 2026 | Official source |
| NHS England: Referral to treatment (RTT) waiting times | August 2026 | 8 October 2026 | Official source |
| NHS England: ADHD Management Information (open referrals that may be for an ADHD assessment) | June 2026 | 27 August 2026 | Official source |
| NHS England: Autism waiting time statistics (open suspected autism referrals) | June 2026 | 13 August 2026 | Official source |
| Public Health Scotland: Scotland A&E activity and waiting times (all A&E sites) | August 2026 | 6 October 2026 | Official source |
| Welsh Government (StatsWales): Wales emergency department and diagnostic waiting times | September 2026 | 22 October 2026 | Official source |
This page was last updated on 2 November 2026. The reporting period is the time the figures describe; the published date is when the official publisher released them. These figures describe people who were already waiting or attending during the reporting period. They are not a forecast or a guarantee of how long someone referred now will wait: that depends on clinical urgency, the hospital and the service.
Official statistics are reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See data sources and methods, or report a figure that looks wrong.