Referral to treatment (RTT) data for August 2026, published 8 October 2026 · A&E data for September 2026, published 8 October 2026 · Diagnostics (DM01) data for August 2026, published 8 October 2026 · Page updated 1 November 2026
NHS waiting times in the North West
In August 2026, 64.3% of 1,064,345 pathways at providers in the NHS England North West region had waited under 18 weeks for treatment (England 65.2%). In September 2026, 71.8% of A&E attendances there ended within four hours (England 74.4%), and in August 2026, 9.9% of MRI waits were over six weeks.
How does the North West compare with England?
| Measure | North West | England | Data month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waiting for treatment (RTT pathways) | 1,064,345 | 7,189,213 | August 2026 |
| Waited under 18 weeks | 64.3% | 65.2% | August 2026 |
| Waited over 52 weeks | 1.4% | 1.6% | August 2026 |
| A&E within 4 hours (all types) | 71.8% | 74.4% | September 2026 |
| A&E within 4 hours (type 1) | 57.4% | 60.6% | September 2026 |
| MRI waits over 6 weeks | 9.9% | 22.0% | August 2026 |
| CT waits over 6 weeks | 8.5% | 11.2% | August 2026 |
| Talking Therapies: started within 6 weeks (of those finishing) | 81.0% | 83.4% | August 2026 |
Regional RTT figures are a Waiting Times UK calculation (provider figures added up by integrated care board region). Other figures are as published by NHS England.
How do hospital trusts in the North West compare?
| Trust | RTT waiting | % under 18 wks | Median wks | MRI % over 6 wks | Cancer 28-day % | Cancer 62-day % | A&E 4-hr % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust | 17,520 | 66.3% | 12.4 | 0.0% | 100.0% | 100.0%* | 85.9% |
| Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 41,106 | 58.6% | 14.5 | 23.3% | 72.4% | 52.8% | 76.0% |
| Bolton NHS Foundation Trust | 36,998 | 61.6% | 13.3 | 1.4% | 80.1% | 73.8% | 63.3% |
| Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 31,910 | 68.4% | 11.4 | 7.9% | 87.1% | 83.8% | 61.8% |
| East Cheshire NHS Trust | 15,700 | 61.7% | 13.4 | 25.9% | 79.2% | 59.2% | 49.8% |
| East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust | 46,343 | 72.1% | 9.4 | 0.0% | 85.2% | 75.4% | 75.6% |
| Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 62,317 | 60.0% | 14.2 | 3.6% | 81.8% | 73.0% | 73.0% |
| Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 5,455 | 80.1% | 8.6 | 23.1% | 28.0% | 74.5% | – |
| Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 66,322 | 62.7% | 12.9 | 9.5% | 68.8% | 73.6% | 66.7% |
| Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust | 11,052 | 61.3% | 13.2 | – | 73.8% | 68.4%* | 88.6% |
| Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust | 167,907 | 63.9% | 12.8 | 13.2% | 81.0% | 77.1% | 71.7% |
| Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | 84,572 | 64.9% | 12.1 | 13.8% | 66.3% | 80.7% | 73.3% |
| Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 30,270 | 70.6% | 10.6 | 7.8% | 78.8% | 73.7% | 65.2% |
| North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust | 35,458 | 65.3% | 12.5 | 0.7% | 81.1% | 79.5% | 75.2% |
| Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust | 136,973 | 55.8% | 15.5 | 9.3% | 73.3% | 68.5% | 70.0% |
| Stockport NHS Foundation Trust | 34,942 | 62.3% | 12.9 | 0.6% | 81.3% | 76.5% | 70.2% |
| Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust | 16,489 | 78.5% | 8.9 | 0.0% | 80.8% | 79.7% | 60.0% |
| The Christie NHS Foundation Trust | 3,144 | 97.4% | 4.3 | 0.8% | 100.0% | 86.5% | – |
| The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust | 889 | 97.2% | 7.2 | 1.1% | 66.7%* | 82.8% | – |
| The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust | 14,722 | 65.9% | 11.6 | 0.6% | 100.0%* | 100.0%* | – |
| University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust | 36,391 | 68.5% | 10.8 | 8.2% | 79.2% | 72.8% | 73.5% |
| Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 43,368 | 65.4% | 12.0 | 1.9% | 74.4% | 78.2% | 53.4% |
| Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 46,323 | 60.5% | 13.6 | 3.5% | 78.8% | 77.7% | 69.0% |
n/s: no RTT data submitted. *: fewer than 20 patients. More measures on the compare page.
How long are waits for treatment in each integrated care board area?
| Integrated care board | Waiting | % under 18 wks | Over 52 wks |
|---|---|---|---|
| NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board | 371,004 | 66.3% | 4,530 |
| NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board | 477,241 | 62.2% | 7,508 |
| NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board | 216,100 | 65.7% | 2,473 |
Waits at providers whose parent ICB is in this area, which can include patients from elsewhere.
How quickly can people get a GP appointment in the North West?
| Integrated care board | Appointments | Same day | Within 14 days | Over 28 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board | 1,460,278 | 48.0% | 83.2% | 4.7% |
| NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board | 1,533,138 | 44.2% | 81.9% | 5.4% |
| NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board | 928,623 | 42.0% | 79.3% | 6.4% |
Booking to appointment, practice systems only. More: GP appointment waits.
Which towns have their own waiting time pages?
Blackburn · Bolton · Burnley · Liverpool · Manchester · Preston · Salford · St Helens · Stockport · Wirral
More: ADHD and autism waits by area, operations by specialty, cancer waits and all regions.
What are my rights while I 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.
Frequently asked questions
Are NHS waiting times in the North West better than the England average?
It depends on the measure. In August 2026, 64.3% of pathways in the North West were within 18 weeks, against 65.2% for England. The table above compares several measures.
Which trusts are in this region?
The 23 NHS acute trusts that NHS England places in its North West region are listed above. Trusts also treat patients from neighbouring areas.
Why are regional waiting list figures a calculation?
NHS England publishes waiting lists by provider and by commissioner. We add up provider figures by each provider’s integrated care board region, so totals can differ slightly from other regional figures.
How should I cite these figures?
Waiting Times UK, “NHS waiting times in the North West”, NHS England data for August 2026 (A&E September 2026), https://waitingtimesuk.co.uk/regions/north-west (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 1 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)
- NHS England: A&E attendances (September 2026)
- NHS England: Diagnostics (DM01) (August 2026)
- NHS England: Cancer waiting times (provisional)
- NHS England: Appointments in General Practice (September 2026)
- NHS England: NHS Talking Therapies (August 2026)
- Method for regional and ICB RTT figures: ICB and NHS England region figures are sums of the published provider-level RTT counts, grouped by the provider's parent ICB and that ICB's NHS England region (calculated by Waiting Times UK). Activity counts are sums from the NHS England RTT full CSV extract.
Official statistics are reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See data sources and methods and about Waiting Times UK.
Spotted a figure that looks wrong or out of date? Report a figure and we will check it against the original source.