Referral to treatment (RTT) data for August 2026, published 8 October 2026 · Page updated 2 November 2026
General internal medicine waiting times: NHS trusts ranked
How long patients on the general internal medicine waiting list had waited at each NHS trust in England at the end of August 2026, from NHS England referral to treatment (RTT) statistics. General internal medicine covers a broad range of adult medical conditions, often for patients with more than one condition at once. 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.
General internal medicine: summary
At the end of August 2026, 74 NHS trusts in England had at least 20 pathways waiting for general internal medicine. Their median waits so far ranged from 1.5 weeks at University Hospitals of Leicester to 25.9 weeks at Cambridge University Hospitals; the England median was 10.2 weeks. 56 of the 74 trusts had a median at or below the England figure. The share waiting under 18 weeks ranged from 34.7% to 100.0% (England 72.3%); 31 trusts met the 92% standard. 56 trusts had no general internal medicine pathways waiting over 52 weeks; the most was 56 at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.
Which NHS trusts have the shortest general internal medicine waits?
Select a column heading to sort, or filter by NHS England region. Each trust links to its own general internal medicine page with the trend and nearby trusts. To put two to four trusts next to each other, use the side-by-side comparison.
Rank 1 is the shortest median wait; “=” marks a tie. Only NHS trusts with at least 20 general internal medicine 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 10.2 weeks, 72.3% under 18 weeks, 31,589 pathways waiting, 222 over 52 weeks.
How do NHS England regions compare for general internal medicine?
| Region | Trusts ranked | Shortest median | Region: under 18 weeks | Region: pathways waiting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 12 | St George's University Hospitals (4.4 weeks) | 62.3% | 7,989 |
| South East | 8 | Oxford University Hospitals (5.8 weeks) | 79.6% | 1,589 |
| South West | 4 | University Hospitals Dorset (2.6 weeks) | 82.5% | 487 |
| Midlands | 14 | University Hospitals of Leicester (1.5 weeks) | 76.2% | 8,489 |
| East of England | 11 | North West Anglia (3.6 weeks) | 63.7% | 5,555 |
| North West | 12 | Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care (3.1 weeks) | 87.1% | 1,236 |
| North East and Yorkshire | 13 | Leeds Teaching Hospitals (1.9 weeks) | 81.8% | 6,244 |
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
- Compare two to four trusts side by side for general internal medicine
- Operation and treatment waits by specialty in England
- Find general internal medicine waits near your postcode
- Trust rankings for every specialty
- Compare NHS trusts on all measures
Rankings for other specialties
- Cardiology
- Cardiothoracic surgery
- Dermatology
- Ear, nose and throat (ENT)
- Elderly medicine
- Gastroenterology
- General surgery
- Gynaecology
- Neurology
- Neurosurgery
- Ophthalmology
- Oral surgery
- Plastic surgery
- Respiratory medicine
- Rheumatology
- Trauma and orthopaedics
- Urology
How should I cite these figures?
Waiting Times UK, “General internal medicine waiting times: NHS trusts ranked”, NHS England RTT data for August 2026, https://waitingtimesuk.co.uk/compare/specialty/general-internal-medicine (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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