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

Plastic surgery waiting times: NHS waiting list by hospital in England

What does the plastic surgery waiting list count?

The NHS Data Dictionary describes plastic surgery (treatment function 160) as services that correct or restore form and function: reconstructive surgery, the treatment of burns and cosmetic or aesthetic surgery. Care in specialist burns units has its own code (161) and is not separately reported by NHS England, so it falls in the “Other” surgical group rather than 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 plastic surgery waiting list in England?

Plastic surgery was the 14th largest of 18 specialty lists in August 2026, with 1.5% of all 7,189,213 pathways. Its median wait so far of 14.0 weeks was longer than the 12.2 weeks for all specialties together, and 3.3% of its pathways had passed a year, against 1.6% overall. The 92nd percentile was 45 weeks: 8 in 100 plastic surgery pathways had waited longer than that. Of the 22,069 plastic surgery pathways that ended in August 2026, 55.5% ended with a hospital admission, while 23,990 new ones started.

Has the plastic surgery waiting list changed since February 2026?

The plastic surgery list grew by 5,858 pathways (5.6%) from 103,747 in February 2026 to 109,605 in August 2026, compared with a 0.5% rise in the waiting list for all specialties. It went up in 5 and down in 1 of the 6 monthly steps; the biggest rise was June 2026 to July 2026 (105,372 to 108,107). Waits of over a year rose from 3,049 to 3,575; the median wait so far fell from 15.9 weeks to 14.0 weeks; the share waiting under 18 weeks rose from 54.7% to 59.4%.

Among the 69 NHS trusts ranked here that also reported in February 2026, the plastic surgery list grew most at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (7,367 to 8,821) and fell most at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (1,892 to 1,335).

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

How do plastic surgery waits vary by region?

South West had the highest share of its plastic surgery list under 18 weeks (72.7%) and North West the lowest (52.9%). North West had the most people waiting, 22,811 or 20.8% of the regional total, and East of England the largest share waiting over a year (5.5%). London had the most ranked trusts (15) and South West the fewest (5).

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 plastic surgery waits?

Of the 35 NHS trusts with at least 1,000 plastic surgery pathways, East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust had the shortest median wait so far, 8.6 weeks with 3,327 waiting, and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust the longest, 22.6 weeks with 4,942 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 plastic surgery waits at each NHS trust?

74 NHS trusts had at least 20 plastic surgery pathways waiting and a published median. The largest lists were at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (8,821), Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (7,067) and Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (6,137), and the five largest trust lists held 30.8% of everyone waiting at NHS trusts. 5 of the 74 met the 92% 18-week standard for plastic surgery, and 22 had nobody waiting over a year. 4 other NHS trusts had smaller lists or no published median.

Of the 3,575 plastic surgery pathways over a year in England, 1,900 (53.1%) were at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (853), Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (728) and Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (319).

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 plastic surgery patients?

13 independent-sector providers had at least 50 NHS-funded plastic surgery pathways waiting; the largest was Cobalt Hospital with 951. Their figures cover NHS patients only, not people paying privately.

How quickly are suspected skin cancers checked?

In August 2026, 85.8% of 72,411 people referred with suspected skin cancer were told they had cancer, or that it had been ruled out, within 28 days (standard 80%). 87.0% of 5,463 people treated for skin cancer started treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral (standard 85%). See cancer waiting times.

How does plastic surgery compare with dermatology?

People looking at plastic surgery waits often also look at dermatology, which also looks after skin conditions including skin cancer. In August 2026 the dermatology list had 423,217 pathways, a median wait so far of 10.5 weeks and 69.0% under 18 weeks, against 14.0 weeks and 59.4% for plastic surgery. See Dermatology waiting times in England.

What can these figures not tell you?

Plastic surgery services range from regional reconstructive and hand units to smaller local skin services, so a trust’s plastic surgery 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 plastic surgery
• Compare plastic surgery waits at two to four hospitals
• Plastic surgery 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.