How long are patients waiting? NHS waiting times visualised

Interactive Map Below

NHS waiting times vary significantly depending on where a patient is referred to, representing a 'postcode lottery' for patients seeking treatment. Notably, areas with longer waiting times tend to be clustered together, which unsurprisingly suggests that waiting time disparities are often the result of localised pressures. To visualise this phenomenon, and aid the conversation around waiting time inequalities and the importance of patient choice, we have inputted the latest NHS referral-to-treatment waiting times into an interactive map.

The map shows the median waiting time for incomplete pathways by specialty in England, as of January 2023, at the sub integrated care board (Sub-ICB) level. These waiting times therefore represent the average time that patients referred - but not yet seen - are waiting for treatment, be that admitted or non-admitted care. Due to nuances in how the NHS defines when treatment has occurred, with the ‘clock’ able to be stopped for various reasons - described as any ‘clinical decision’ - this data is indicative but not definitive in articulating waiting time differences. This is particularly true given the broadness of the specialty categories, which forms the basis of NHS England published data. For example, ‘Trauma and Orthopaedics’ includes a large variety of possible referral reasons and possible treatment. Therefore this data helps to demonstrate the extent of differences, but is limited in its ability to inform decision making at the individual patient level.

NHS England RTT Incomplete Waiting Times (Median Wait; January 2023)