Referral to treatment (RTT) data for August 2026, published 8 October 2026 · Page updated 2 November 2026

Cardiothoracic surgery waiting times: NHS trusts ranked

How long patients on the cardiothoracic surgery waiting list had waited at each NHS trust in England at the end of August 2026, from NHS England referral to treatment (RTT) statistics. Cardiothoracic surgery covers operations on the heart, lungs and chest, for example heart bypass and heart valve surgery. Trusts are ranked from the shortest median wait to the longest.

Past figures, not a promise. These are NHS England figures for patients who were already on the waiting list at the end of August 2026: how long they had waited so far. They are not a forecast or a guarantee of how long a new patient will wait, and waits can change quickly. Waiting Times UK is an independent website, not part of the NHS, and this is not medical advice.

Cardiothoracic surgery: summary

At the end of August 2026, 29 NHS trusts in England had at least 20 pathways waiting for cardiothoracic surgery. Their median waits so far ranged from 4.8 weeks at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells to 19.0 weeks at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals; the England median was 9.6 weeks. 18 of the 29 trusts had a median at or below the England figure. The share waiting under 18 weeks ranged from 45.8% to 100.0% (England 73.6%); 3 trusts met the 92% standard. 16 trusts had no cardiothoracic surgery pathways waiting over 52 weeks; the most was 60 at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.

Which NHS trusts have the shortest cardiothoracic surgery waits?

Select a column heading to sort, or filter by NHS England region. Each trust links to its own cardiothoracic surgery page with the trend and nearby trusts. To put two to four trusts next to each other, use the side-by-side comparison.

Cardiothoracic surgery: NHS trusts in England ranked by median wait, end of August 2026
Rank	Trust	Region	Median weeks waited	Under 18 weeks	92nd percentile weeks	Pathways waiting	Over 52 weeks	Over 52 weeks (% of list)
1	Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust	South East	4.8	100.0%	15	34	0	0.0%
2	St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	London	4.9	92.4%	18	303	0	0.0%
3	Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust	Midlands	6.1	83.3%	32	294	1	0.3%
4	University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust	Midlands	6.8	82.1%	26	173	0	0.0%
5	Bolton NHS Foundation Trust	North West	7.1	93.5%	18	31	0	0.0%
6	University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust	South East	7.3	78.6%	28	524	2	0.4%
=7	University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust	Midlands	7.7	86.1%	24	316	0	0.0%
=7	South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	North East and Yorkshire	7.7	80.2%	29	358	2	0.6%
=7	Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust	North East and Yorkshire	7.7	78.7%	29	447	0	0.0%
=10	East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust	East of England	8.1	91.0%	19	156	0	0.0%
=10	Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust	North West	8.1	81.9%	27	817	1	0.1%
=12	Wye Valley NHS Trust	Midlands	8.5	82.9%	25	35	0	0.0%
=12	University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust	Midlands	8.5	74.5%	28	487	3	0.6%
14	King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust	London	9.0	75.0%	32	116	0	0.0%
=15	Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust	East of England	9.2	78.7%	28	512	3	0.6%
=15	Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	South West	9.2	77.8%	20	27	0	0.0%
17	University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust	South East	9.3	71.4%	28	112	0	0.0%
18	Bristol NHS Foundation Trust	South West	9.6	76.4%	29	479	0	0.0%
19	Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust	North East and Yorkshire	10.2	75.1%	31	381	6	1.6%
=20	University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust	Midlands	10.8	75.6%	33	45	0	0.0%
=20	Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust	London	10.8	71.7%	33	661	0	0.0%
22	University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust	Midlands	11.2	73.6%	30	227	2	0.9%
23	The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust	Midlands	12.1	86.2%	21	80	0	0.0%
24	Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust	North West	13.1	61.3%	42	1,054	17	1.6%
=25	The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	North East and Yorkshire	14.0	58.9%	48	90	3	3.3%
=25	County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust	North East and Yorkshire	14.0	50.0%	56	30	4	13.3%
27	Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust	London	15.5	52.8%	50	36	1	2.8%
28	Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	North West	18.6	48.6%	51	876	60	6.8%
29	Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	North West	19.0	45.8%	36	24	0	0.0%

Rank 1 is the shortest median wait; “=” marks a tie. Only NHS trusts with at least 20 cardiothoracic surgery pathways waiting and a published median are ranked, the same rule as on each trust’s specialty page. Independent-sector providers that treat NHS patients are not ranked. England: median 9.6 weeks, 73.6% under 18 weeks, 8,798 pathways waiting, 106 over 52 weeks.

How do NHS England regions compare for cardiothoracic surgery?

Cardiothoracic surgery by NHS England region, end of August 2026
Region	Trusts ranked	Shortest median	Region: under 18 weeks	Region: pathways waiting
London	4	St George's University Hospitals (4.9 weeks)	77.1%	1,123
South East	3	Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells (4.8 weeks)	78.4%	693
South West	2	Gloucestershire Hospitals (9.2 weeks)	77.1%	519
Midlands	8	Nottingham University Hospitals (6.1 weeks)	79.9%	1,669
East of England	2	East and North Hertfordshire Teaching (8.1 weeks)	81.6%	669
North West	5	Bolton (7.1 weeks)	63.7%	2,818
North East and Yorkshire	5	South Tees Hospitals (7.7 weeks)	76.0%	1,307

The last two columns are a Waiting Times UK calculation: we add up NHS England’s figures for every NHS and independent provider in the region with this specialty. Medians cannot be added up, so the region columns show the share under 18 weeks rather than a median.

What do these measures mean?

Median weeks waited: half the pathways on the list had waited this long or less so far, at the end of the month.
Under 18 weeks: the share of the list that had waited less than 18 weeks (the NHS standard is 92%). Pathways with an unknown start date are left out, as NHS England does.
92nd percentile: 92% of pathways had waited this many weeks or less.
Pathways waiting: the size of the list. A pathway is one patient’s wait for one specialty; a person can be on more than one list.
Over 52 weeks: pathways that had waited more than a year.

NHS England publishes these figures for each trust as a whole, not for each hospital. A trust can run several hospitals, so the site you are treated at may have a different wait. A trust is shown for a specialty only if at least 20 pathways were waiting. Specialist trusts, and trusts that take complex referrals from elsewhere, are not like for like with general hospitals.

Can I choose a hospital with a shorter wait?

In England you have a legal right to start consultant-led, non-urgent treatment within 18 weeks of referral, with some exceptions, and you can usually choose where you are referred for a first outpatient appointment. Each hospital has a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) that can help with questions about your wait. Your waiting time rights explained.

Not medical advice. If your symptoms change or get worse while you wait, contact your GP or the team treating you. If it is not an emergency, NHS 111 online or calling 111 can tell you where to go, including urgent treatment centres, which often have shorter waits. Call 999 or go to A&E for life-threatening emergencies such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding or signs of a stroke.

More comparisons

Rankings for other specialties

How should I cite these figures?

Waiting Times UK, “Cardiothoracic surgery waiting times: NHS trusts ranked”, NHS England RTT data for August 2026, https://waitingtimesuk.co.uk/compare/specialty/cardiothoracic-surgery (accessed [date]). Where possible, cite the official publisher too.

Who wrote this page and where do the figures come from?

Written and maintained by the Waiting Times UK editorial team at Oaknest Media Ltd, an independent publisher that is not part of the NHS. Every figure is taken from an official publication, shown with its date, and linked below; where we add up or compare figures ourselves we say so. This page has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not medical advice. Page last updated 2 November 2026, from the data files named below. Figures change when the publisher releases new data.

NHS England: Referral to treatment waiting times (August 2026, published 8 October 2026)

Official statistics are reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See data sources and methods and about Waiting Times UK.

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