NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Ophthalmology waiting times at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 2,605 people were on the Ophthalmology at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 7 in 10 people (72%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · Ophthalmology across England

People waiting
2,605
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
71.9%
England: 72.2%
Over 52 weeks
2
Median wait
11 wks
Published median for this list

2 people (0.1%, roughly 1 in 1000) 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 11.3% of everyone waiting at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

How published 18-week performance has changed

Ophthalmology, NHS England Referral to Treatment figures, April 2024 to August 2026.

18-week performance improved

Published 18-week performance for Ophthalmology at this organisation has improved over the past 12 months: 71.9% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 65.3% 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
71.9%
3 months earlier · May 2026
77.6% then · change to latest -5.8 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
74.9% then · change to latest -3.1 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
65.3% then · change to latest +6.6 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
51.1% then · change to latest +20.8 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202671.9%2,605
July 202671.5%2,469
June 202675.8%2,383
May 202677.6%2,281
April 202675.8%2,263
March 202675.7%2,246
February 202674.9%2,205
January 202675.7%2,161
December 202575.7%2,242
November 202578%2,341
October 202575.2%2,254
September 202573.3%2,273
August 202565.3%2,528
July 202565.4%2,735
June 202564.8%2,977
May 202564.5%3,086
April 202564.5%3,066
March 202565.1%2,757
February 202565.4%2,644
January 202566.1%2,640
December 202462.5%2,622
November 202463.4%2,633
October 202460.1%2,626
September 202454.2%2,613
August 202454.4%2,799
July 202452.7%2,905
June 202452.7%3,150
May 202452.1%3,094
April 202451.1%2,987
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 ophthalmology 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 Ophthalmology
TrustDistanceWaitingUnder 18 weeksDifference
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust20.7 mi4,82772%+0.3 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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