Check waiting times for your care

Check the estimated waiting time for the care you have been referred for.

Estimated waiting times are updated monthly.

How to check waiting times

Select the medical speciality you have been referred for.
Use the 'specialities explained' link if you are unsure what speciality to select.
Select the hospital you want to see waiting times for - you can select more than 1 hospital.

If your speciality or hospital is not listed

We show estimated waiting times for:

the most common specialities people are referred for - this means less common specialities are not listed
hospitals that share their data with us

We do not have waiting times information for all hospitals. We are working to improve this.

This is a new service. It is in development (beta). We are gathering insights to help improve this service.

Check waiting times

Waiting time is estimated, not exact

The average waiting time is an estimate. It is the best information we can provide based on the data available.

Some patients will wait less than the estimated waiting time. Some patients will wait longer.

We cannot give you an exact time for how long you will need to wait. This is because waiting time can be different for each person.

Your actual waiting time is based on how urgently doctors think you need care.

It can depend on:

if your condition is assessed as routine, semi-urgent or urgent
the number of people on the waiting list
the demand for the service you are waiting on

How we estimate your waiting time

We estimate waiting time based on the midpoint of the length of time patients were waiting over the past 12 months.

For example, if 100 patients were waiting for an appointment in the past 12 months, we look at the length of time where at least 50% of these patients have been waiting. We use this as the current estimate.

So, if at least 50% of these patients were waiting 9 weeks for an appointment, we would estimate the current waiting time as 9 weeks.

Estimated waiting time for first appointment

This is the estimated waiting time for your first appointment with a doctor or consultant after your GP refers you.

This is usually an outpatient appointment. You are not admitted to hospital. You do not stay overnight.

Estimated waiting time for inpatient appointment

This is the estimated waiting time for an inpatient appointment. This may include a procedure or treatment.

The estimated waiting time is from the day the hospital gets your referral. You usually get referred after attending an outpatient appointment (first appointment). But sometimes a GP may refer you.

Inpatient is when you stay overnight in hospital.

Estimated waiting time for daycase appointment

This is the estimated waiting time for a day case appointment. A day case appointment may include a procedure or treatment.

The estimated waiting time is from the day the hospital gets your referral. You usually get referred after attending an outpatient appointment (first appointment). But sometimes a GP may refer you.

Day case care is when you are admitted to hospital. But you do not stay overnight.

Waiting times service is in development

Providing an estimated waiting time is new. We are working to improve this service.

We want to make it more accurate and useful for you and the people who provide you with care.

We hope to improve this service soon by:

showing the estimated waiting times at all hospitals
looking at better ways to present hospital data around waiting times
making the information easier to use and understand
providing waiting times for specific procedures rather than just speciality
showing waiting times broken down by urgent, semi-urgent and routine appointments

Back to Waiting for care