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

Respiratory medicine waiting times: NHS waiting list by hospital in England

What does the respiratory medicine waiting list count?

The NHS Data Dictionary describes respiratory medicine (treatment function 340, also called thoracic or pulmonary medicine) as the investigation, diagnosis and treatment of people with respiratory (breathing and lung) complaints. Respiratory physiology (341), adult cystic fibrosis (343, designated specialist centres only) and sleep medicine (347) have their own codes; NHS England does not list those separately, so care recorded under them is in its “Other” groups, not here.

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 respiratory medicine waiting list in England?

Respiratory medicine was the 12th largest of 18 specialty lists in August 2026, with 2.5% of all 7,189,213 pathways. Its median wait so far of 10.4 weeks was shorter than the 12.2 weeks for all specialties together, and 0.4% of its pathways had passed a year, against 1.6% overall. The 92nd percentile was 32 weeks: 8 in 100 respiratory medicine pathways had waited longer than that. Of the 38,491 respiratory medicine pathways that ended in August 2026, 5.6% ended with a hospital admission, while 47,364 new ones started.

Has the respiratory medicine waiting list changed since February 2026?

The respiratory medicine list shrank by 2,211 pathways (1.2%) from 185,125 in February 2026 to 182,914 in August 2026, compared with a 0.5% rise in the waiting list for all specialties. It went up in 2 and down in 4 of the 6 monthly steps; the biggest fall was June 2026 to July 2026 (189,478 to 184,610). Waits of over a year fell from 1,082 to 669; the median wait so far fell from 10.5 weeks to 10.4 weeks; the share waiting under 18 weeks rose from 71.7% to 74.1%.

Among the 117 NHS trusts ranked here that also reported in February 2026, the respiratory medicine list grew most at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2,104 to 3,160) and fell most at Barts Health NHS Trust (6,204 to 4,286).

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

How do respiratory medicine waits vary by region?

North West had the highest share of its respiratory medicine list under 18 weeks (78.0%) and South East the lowest (70.3%). London had the most people waiting, 43,476 or 23.8% of the regional total, and Midlands the largest share waiting over a year (0.8%). Midlands had the most ranked trusts (20) and South West the fewest (10).

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 respiratory medicine waits?

Of the 68 NHS trusts with at least 1,000 respiratory medicine pathways, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust had the shortest median wait so far, 5.9 weeks with 2,390 waiting, and South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust the longest, 22.6 weeks with 1,169 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 respiratory medicine waits at each NHS trust?

118 NHS trusts had at least 20 respiratory medicine pathways waiting and a published median. The largest lists were at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (9,635), Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (5,655) and University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (5,001), and the five largest trust lists held 16.3% of everyone waiting at NHS trusts. 18 of the 118 met the 92% 18-week standard for respiratory medicine, and 76 had nobody waiting over a year. 1 other NHS trust had smaller lists or no published median.

Of the 669 respiratory medicine pathways over a year in England, 328 (49.0%) were at Wye Valley NHS Trust (148), East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (93) and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (87).

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 respiratory medicine patients?

4 independent-sector providers had at least 50 NHS-funded respiratory medicine pathways waiting; the largest was The Yorkshire Clinic with 943. Their figures cover NHS patients only, not people paying privately.

How long are related scan and lung cancer waits?

11.2% of people waiting for a CT scan in England had waited six weeks or more in August 2026. In August 2026, 77.7% of 5,216 people referred with suspected lung cancer were told they had cancer, or that it had been ruled out, within 28 days (standard 80%). 62.0% of 3,014 people treated for lung cancer started treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral (standard 85%). See CT scan waiting times and cancer waiting times.

How does respiratory medicine compare with cardiology?

People looking at respiratory medicine waits often also look at cardiology, the other large list for chest and heart symptoms. In August 2026 the cardiology list had 362,143 pathways, a median wait so far of 11.9 weeks and 67.9% under 18 weeks, against 10.4 weeks and 74.1% for respiratory medicine. See Cardiology waiting times in England.

What can these figures not tell you?

Respiratory lists are usually local, but some trusts also run specialist lung services that take referrals from further away, so a trust’s respiratory medicine 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 respiratory medicine
• Compare respiratory medicine waits at two to four hospitals
• Respiratory medicine waits near your postcode
• Operation and treatment waits for every 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.