Our new waiting times tool covers 144 treatments using NHS England's May 2026 RTT data. For each one it shows two numbers: the median wait and the 1-in-12 figure — how long the unluckiest twelfth of patients wait. We'll update it every month, within days of each NHS release.
- ✓The tool covers 144 treatments, built on NHS England's May 2026 RTT data.
- ✓Every treatment shows two numbers: the median wait and the 1-in-12 tail.
- ✓We update the tool monthly, within days of each NHS England release.
What the tool does
Search for a treatment — a hip replacement, a cataract, an ADHD assessment, an MRI — and our waiting times tool shows you what waiting for it currently looks like on the NHS. It covers 144 treatments, each mapped to the specialty that delivers it in NHS England's referral-to-treatment (RTT) statistics, currently the May 2026 release published on 9 July.
We built it because the question people actually ask — how long will I wait for this operation? — is surprisingly hard to answer from official statistics. The NHS publishes waits by specialty and by trust, not by treatment, and the headline figures are averages that hide the spread. If you want to know about a knee arthroscopy, being told the national list is 7.3 million treatments long is no help at all. The tool does the mapping and shows the spread — treatment by treatment, in plain English, with the source and the date on every figure.
Why we show two numbers, not one
Every treatment in the tool gets two figures. The median — half of patients wait less, half wait longer — and the 1-in-12 figure, the 92nd percentile, which tells you how long the unluckiest twelfth of the queue has waited. Nationally in May 2026 those numbers are 12.4 weeks and 38.6 weeks: a three-month typical wait, and a tail well over double the 18-week standard.
| Specialty | Median (May 2026) | 1 in 12 wait at least |
|---|---|---|
| Trauma & orthopaedics | 14.1 weeks | 41.8 weeks |
| ENT | 14.8 weeks | — |
| Ophthalmology | 10.2 weeks | — |
| Gynaecology | 13.9 weeks | — |
| All specialties | 12.4 weeks | 38.6 weeks |
How we keep it honest
Three rules govern the tool. First, the numbers come straight from NHS England's published RTT data — we don't estimate, survey or extrapolate, and where a treatment maps imperfectly to a specialty we say so on the page. Second, we show the tail as prominently as the median, even though the median makes for gentler reading. Third, it's dated: every figure carries the month of the release it came from, so you always know what you're looking at.
And a commitment: we'll refresh all 144 treatments every month, within days of each NHS England release. The June 2026 data lands in mid-August, and the tool will update with it. Stale waiting-time figures are worse than none — they let people plan around a queue that no longer exists — so the update cadence is part of the product, not an afterthought.
Seen your wait — want the alternative?
How to use it
- If you're waiting now. Look up your treatment to sanity-check what you've been told, then see our guide to your 18-week rights and Right to Choose.
- If you're weighing up going private. Compare the NHS range against typical private timelines — a consultation within days, diagnostics in one to two weeks, routine surgery in two to six weeks (indicative).
- If you're deciding on insurance. The tool shows the size of the problem cover is designed to solve; our guides and quote journey handle the rest.
The tool is free, with no sign-up and no data capture — you shouldn't have to hand over an email address to find out how long a queue is. It lives at waiting-times.html, it links to the relevant guide for every treatment it covers, and we hope it makes a hard conversation a little clearer.
Frequently asked questions
What is Speedwell Health's NHS waiting times tool?
It's a free tool covering 144 treatments that shows realistic NHS waits using NHS England's referral-to-treatment data — currently the May 2026 release. For each treatment it displays the median wait and the 1-in-12 figure, so you see both the typical experience and the long tail.
Where does the data in the waiting times tool come from?
Every figure comes from NHS England's published RTT statistics — the May 2026 data released on 9 July 2026. We map each of the 144 treatments to its delivering specialty; we don't estimate, survey or model our own numbers, and each figure is dated to its release.
How often is the Speedwell Health waiting times tool updated?
Monthly. NHS England publishes RTT data around six weeks in arrears, and we refresh all 144 treatments within days of each release. The June 2026 figures are due in mid-August 2026 and the tool will update then.
What does the 1-in-12 figure in the waiting times tool mean?
It's the 92nd percentile wait — one person in twelve on the list has waited at least that long. Nationally in May 2026 it's 38.6 weeks against a 12.4-week median. Showing it alongside the median stops averages hiding the long tail.
Does the waiting times tool cover every NHS treatment?
It covers 144 common treatments, from joint replacements and cataracts to diagnostics and assessments, mapped to NHS England's specialty-level data. Rarer procedures may not be listed, and diagnostic-only waits sit on a separate NHS measure (DM01), which we flag where relevant.