NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Ear, nose and throat (ENT) waiting times at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 2,832 people were on the Ear, nose and throat (ENT) at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 6 in 10 people (57%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · Ear, nose and throat (ENT) across England

People waiting
2,832
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
56.6%
England: 56.8%
Over 52 weeks
38
Median wait
16 wks
Published median for this list

38 people (1.3%, roughly 1 in 77) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is broadly in line with the England picture for this service.

Why this page exists

This page combines facts that neither the organisation page nor the England specialty page shows on its own: the current published figure for this one service at this one organisation; how that figure has moved over the months we hold; the England figure for the same service in the same month; other NHS trusts within 25 miles reporting the same service; the published median wait and 52-week count for this list; the other services this organisation reports. This service accounts for 12.3% of everyone waiting at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

How published 18-week performance has changed

Ear, nose and throat (ENT), NHS England Referral to Treatment figures, April 2024 to August 2026.

18-week performance improved

Published 18-week performance for Ear, nose and throat (ENT) at this organisation has improved over the past 12 months: 56.6% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 47.4% at the end of August 2025.

Share of people on the waiting list who had been waiting under 18 weeks, at the end of each month. Scale runs from 0% to 100%.
Latest · August 2026
56.6%
3 months earlier · May 2026
54% then · change to latest +2.7 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
50.2% then · change to latest +6.5 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
47.4% then · change to latest +9.3 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
38.1% then · change to latest +18.6 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202656.6%2,832
July 202654.6%3,117
June 202653.7%3,015
May 202654%2,999
April 202653.4%2,960
March 202654.9%2,883
February 202650.2%2,956
January 202652.1%3,032
December 202550.7%2,997
November 202549.4%2,980
October 202549.7%3,042
September 202548.4%3,084
August 202547.4%3,167
July 202548.3%3,091
June 202550%3,223
May 202551.5%3,203
April 202552.9%3,235
March 202556.3%3,067
February 202555.4%2,912
January 202551.9%3,127
December 202450.7%3,218
November 202445.4%3,298
October 202442.2%3,697
September 202441.3%3,780
August 202439.9%3,830
July 202438.2%4,093
June 202437.4%4,059
May 202437.9%3,878
April 202438.1%3,793
How we calculate change
  • Each month's figure is the number of people waiting under 18 weeks divided by everyone on the waiting list, from NHS England's published monthly files.
  • Changes compare the latest month with exactly 3, 6 and 12 months earlier, only where both months are published and the list has at least 50 people.
  • The 12-month label is "improved" or "deteriorated" only if the share moved by 3 percentage points or more; smaller moves are called "broadly stable".
  • Where NHS England reissued a month's file, we use the revised file. Months we do not have are left as gaps and never estimated.
  • Earlier months come from our archive of NHS England's published files and are checked against our current figures wherever both exist.

What these figures cannot tell you

  • These are whole-list figures for one specialty at one organisation. They describe the published waiting list, not how long any one person will wait.
  • This specialty covers many conditions and treatments. These figures are not specific to any one operation or condition.
  • Figures are published for the whole organisation, which may run several hospital sites. They do not show the position at any single site.
  • Patients are prioritised by clinical need, so people on the same list can wait very different times.
  • A higher share within 18 weeks is not a measure of the quality of care.

Other NHS trusts offering ear, nose and throat (ent) within 25 miles

Published figures only. These are whole-list figures for each organisation in one month; a different organisation's published position does not mean an individual referral would move faster there.

Alternative trusts for Ear, nose and throat (ENT)
TrustDistanceWaitingUnder 18 weeksDifference
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust20.7 mi5,87456%-0.8 pp

What these figures cannot tell you

  • Where you are in a queue, or when you will be seen or treated.
  • How urgent your own referral is. These are aggregate waiting-list figures and do not show the clinical priority of an individual patient.
  • Anything about a specific consultant, clinic or site within a trust.
  • What will happen next month: these are end-of-month snapshots of a past period.

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