How is your NHS hospital doing on waiting times?

Doctors and patient groups warn that the NHS in the UK is facing a struggle uphill on the number one NHS priority of the government – healing hospital waiting times.

One of Labour’s key elections, they are concerned about the lack of progress in hitting the 18 -week waiting time target. It has not been met since 2015.

Since the election, the proportion of patients waiting for less than 18 weeks has healed, but less than a percentage point.

And the analysis of hospital confidence by BBC Verify, who has been in 18 weeks since the NHS improvement plan was announced in January, has a smaller share of patients within 18 weeks.

However, the government said it was early to claim that progress was very slow because NHS began to progress with the government’s improvement plan in April. Before that, he focused on other priorities, including the struggle against the longest waiting.

He said that the fact that the waiting times continue to heal even in winter – for the first time for 10 years – he said.

And in an interview with the BBC, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that the extra currency and 10 -year NHS plan will be “faster and faster”.

He said the total number of patients in the list of millions of appointments and waiting list has fallen below 7.4 million, which has fallen to the lowest level for two years.

“There is a big challenge here. Are we going to meet this? Certainly. We will not disappoint people.”

The government promised to reach the target by March 2029, which required 92% of patients in 18 weeks.

In January, each Hospital Foundation was granted its own individual performance targets to convene as the first step of making this commitment until March 2026.

BBC Verify starts an interactive tool that we will update when there is new data, so you can find out how good your local NHS services are. In November, we added NHS confidence to the UK, waiting for at least 5,000 cases.

John Winnik doesn’t know when to be treated for a problem with his back.

The grandfather from Western Yorkshire, an arthritis, has been on the NHS waiting list for nine months – much longer than 18 weeks when he says that health service should be a limit.

The 73 -year -old person paid special money to go to Lithuania for the right hip prosthesis last year and spent more than a year in the NHS waiting list.

There are also injections on the left hip to finally need to be replaced.

“I am constantly suffering,” said Mr. Winnik, a self -employed consultant in the glass lamination industry. “I forgot what it was like not to suffer, to be honest. I haven’t played golf for two years and I was shattered if I did a five -minute gardening.”

Tim Mitchell, President of the Royal Surgeons College of England, said: “NHS is changing, but there’s still no wind in sails.

“Advanced in some parts of the country is made, but it is very slow to meet the government’s ambition to achieve a 18 -week target at the end of this parliament.

“Delayed operations mean that their condition is potentially worsening, and patients do not expect in pain.”

He said that the extra money given to NHS in the coming years will help, but “serious inadequate investments” such as infrastructure such as theaters have prevented efforts for years.

Deborah Alsina, the general manager of the patient group against arthritis, has doubts that there is skepticism about whether the need for the rapid progress needed.

And he added: “In daily pain, sometimes it is impossible to exaggerate the personal, physical and mental wage of the stuck in the waiting list for years.

“Although he wants to stay in employment and is more dependent on others, there is a wider impact on the society when many people have to leave their jobs in the waiting lists.”

Temporary targets for March 2026 need to see average confidences 60% of patients in 18 weeks Reference or improvement in November 2024 positions, whichever is larger.

NHS in the UK is expected to ensure that 65% of patients do not wait more than 18 weeks – currently less than 60%.

The majority of confidence has already begun to make progress, but a BBC verification analysis is more than one -third – more than one -third – far from the target since November 2024.

After the overall trend is positive, the healing trusts are taken into consideration.

A handful of trust has reached the place that should be until next March – unless they can keep the waiting lists below.

Mersey and West Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust In April, there were more than 48,000 patients waiting for less than 18 weeks for treatment. This rose from 58.7% in November.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust It also reached 60.1% in November from 54.9% in November.

The biggest target for improvement has been determined Princess Alexandra Hospital Confidence In Harlow, according to our analysis. In November, 41.8% of his patients waited less than 18 weeks. Until April, this has risen to about 48.8%, one of the biggest developments in the UK so far. However, it needs to increase by more than 11 percent by next March.

PAHT General Manager Thom Lafferty said they were “satisfied” of their progress.

“We know the effect of patients waiting for care, and we increase the integration and cooperation with our partners in order to ensure that patients can access the right care at the right care.”

Some of the Trivers have a higher mountain to climb because their figures have fallen since November.

Central and Southern Essex NHS Trust It started in November with 52.8% of patients waiting for less than 18 weeks. However, when it started in April, it fell to 47%.

Two of the theaters in Basildon Hospital were closed for work with some of Trust’s procedure rooms and there was an increase in referrals.

Matthew Hopkins, Chairman of the Executive Board, said that he has put extra clinics and soon a new orthopedic procedure room has opened: “We are sure that we will improve our waiting times and improve your patient experience.”

Among the falling others, despite the need for great improvements Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopedics Hospital (Rjah) In Shropshire (from 48.3% to 44.9%) and Chester CountessIt fell from 49.6% to 47.1%.

Cathy Chadwick, Operation Manager of Counts of Chester, said that more clinical and new technology investment will reduce waiting lists and trust is sure to reach the target until next March.

Rjah spokesman: “We have a clear passion for reaching 60% of the 60% target until March 2026, and we are sure that the plans we put will allow us to do so.”

Targets Scotland– Wales And Northern Ireland It is different and temporary targets for the next March, determined by the United Kingdom Government, are not valid.

However, NHS does not meet the waiting time targets in any country.

Scotland aims to treat 90% of patients within 18 weeks after referral, while the target in Wales is that 95% of patients wait less than 26 weeks.

In Northern Ireland, 55% of patients should not wait more than 13 weeks for daily cases or inpatient treatment.

Alli Shults, Rebecca French, Ollie Lux Rigby, Chris Kay, Adam Allen, Avi Holden and Rebecca Wedge-Roberts produced by the interactive vehicle