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

Neurosurgery waiting times: NHS waiting list by hospital in England

What does the neurosurgery waiting list count?

The NHS Data Dictionary describes neurosurgery (treatment function 150) as surgery for disorders of the nervous system, including the brain, the spinal cord, the peripheral nerves and the blood vessels supplying the brain outside the skull. Specialist spinal surgery services have their own code (108), and NHS England counts those pathways under trauma and orthopaedics, so not every spinal operation is on this list.

These are referral to treatment (RTT) figures. NHS England counts people referred for non-emergency, consultant-led treatment, from referral until treatment starts, whether or not they need an operation. A pathway is one person’s wait for one specialty, so one person can be counted more than once. The figures are for hospitals in England only; NHS England does not publish waits for individual operations or conditions within a specialty.

Sources: NHS England: RTT statistics user guidance, definitions, quality and methodological information (October 2026); NHS England Data Dictionary: main specialty and treatment function codes.

How long is the NHS neurosurgery waiting list in England?

Neurosurgery was the 15th largest of 18 specialty lists in August 2026, with 0.8% of all 7,189,213 pathways. Its median wait so far of 13.4 weeks was longer than the 12.2 weeks for all specialties together, and 1.5% of its pathways had passed a year, against 1.6% overall. The 92nd percentile was 40 weeks: 8 in 100 neurosurgery pathways had waited longer than that. Of the 8,841 neurosurgery pathways that ended in August 2026, 26.6% ended with a hospital admission, while 10,884 new ones started.

Has the neurosurgery waiting list changed since February 2026?

The neurosurgery list shrank by 2,073 pathways (3.6%) from 56,821 in February 2026 to 54,748 in August 2026, compared with a 0.5% rise in the waiting list for all specialties. It went up in 3 and down in 3 of the 6 monthly steps; the biggest fall was June 2026 to July 2026 (56,667 to 54,161). Waits of over a year fell from 927 to 806; the median wait so far fell from 14.1 weeks to 13.4 weeks; the share waiting under 18 weeks rose from 60.5% to 62.0%.

Among the 25 NHS trusts ranked here that also reported in February 2026, the neurosurgery list grew most at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (3,832 to 4,394) and fell most at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust (4,643 to 3,657).

The NHS England files do not give reasons for changes, so we do not suggest any.

How do neurosurgery waits vary by region?

South West had the highest share of its neurosurgery list under 18 weeks (73.7%) and Midlands the lowest (58.5%). London had the most people waiting, 17,410 or 31.8% of the regional total, and North East and Yorkshire the largest share waiting over a year (2.2%). London had the most ranked trusts (6) and South West the fewest (1).

Regional figures are our sums of the trust figures, including independent providers. A regional median cannot be worked out from the published counts, so the last column shows the range of trust medians. Where a region has only one or two ranked trusts, its figure mostly reflects those hospitals.

Which NHS trusts have the shortest and longest median neurosurgery waits?

Of the 19 NHS trusts with at least 1,000 neurosurgery pathways, Bristol NHS Foundation Trust had the shortest median wait so far, 9.3 weeks with 1,232 waiting, and Barts Health NHS Trust the longest, 18.1 weeks with 1,441 waiting.

The median is how long half the people on a trust’s list had waited so far, so a short median on a small list can change a lot from month to month.

How long are neurosurgery waits at each NHS trust?

26 NHS trusts had at least 20 neurosurgery pathways waiting and a published median. The largest lists were at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (4,394), Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (4,225) and St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (4,087), and the five largest trust lists held 40.2% of everyone waiting at NHS trusts. 0 of the 26 met the 92% 18-week standard for neurosurgery, and 4 had nobody waiting over a year. 4 other NHS trusts had smaller lists or no published median.

Of the 806 neurosurgery pathways over a year in England, 403 (50.0%) were at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (155), Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (139) and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (109).

Trusts are grouped by region and listed A to Z. Use the last column for each trust’s own page, search by postcode, or get every provider in the CSV download.

Which independent providers treat NHS neurosurgery patients?

12 independent-sector providers had at least 50 NHS-funded neurosurgery pathways waiting; the largest was The One Health Group Plc with 2,293. Their figures cover NHS patients only, not people paying privately.

How long are related scan and cancer waits?

22.0% of people waiting for an MRI scan in England had waited six weeks or more in August 2026 (standard: under 1%). See MRI waiting times. In August 2026, 88.3% of 759 people referred with suspected brain/central nervous system tumours were told they had cancer, or that it had been ruled out, within 28 days (standard 80%).

How does neurosurgery compare with neurology?

People looking at neurosurgery waits often also look at neurology, the medical (non-surgical) care of brain and nerve conditions. In August 2026 the neurology list had 208,030 pathways, a median wait so far of 13.2 weeks and 62.3% under 18 weeks, against 13.4 weeks and 62.0% for neurosurgery. See Neurology waiting times in England.

What can these figures not tell you?

Neurosurgery is provided at a limited number of regional centres, which take referrals from a wide area, so a trust’s neurosurgery figure is not a like-for-like comparison with a small local hospital.

• Figures are for the whole trust, not a single hospital site, clinic or consultant.
• They show how long people already on the list had waited so far, not how long a new referral will take, and urgent referrals are usually seen sooner than the median.
• Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish their own figures, which are not compared here: see Public Health Scotland (open data at opendata.nhs.scot), StatsWales and the Welsh Government NHS activity and performance summary, the Department of Health (Northern Ireland) hospital waiting times statistics.

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.

Where can I find more?

• Every NHS trust ranked for neurosurgery
• Compare neurosurgery waits at two to four hospitals
• Neurosurgery waits near your postcode
• Operation and treatment waits for every specialty
• NHS surgery waiting times by specialty
• How long does an NHS referral take?

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.