Hospital service waiting times

Ophthalmology waiting times at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of June 2026, 5,477 people were on the Ophthalmology at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 6 in 10 people (63%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · Ophthalmology across England

People waiting: 5,477; End of June 2026
Under 18 weeks: 62.6%; England: 73.8%
Over 52 weeks: 159
Median wait: 13 wks; Published median for this list

159 people (2.9%, roughly 1 in 34) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 11.2 percentage points behind the England figure 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; the published median wait and 52-week count for this list; the other services this organisation reports. This service accounts for 6.6% of everyone waiting at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.

How this has changed

Between July 2025 and June 2026 the share of people on this list waiting under 18 weeks improved by 4 percentage points (59% to 63%).

Share waiting under 18 weeks: broadly unchanged over 3 months (61.4% in March 2026); up 2.7 points over 6 months (59.9% in December 2025).

Share seen within 18 weeks, month by month

Improving · +4 points

Percentage of people seen within 18 weeks, over the last 12 published months.

View these figures as a table

Percentage seen within 18 weeks by month
Month	Within 18 weeks
July 2025	58.6%
August 2025	58.4%
September 2025	61.4%
October 2025	61.9%
November 2025	60.9%
December 2025	59.9%
January 2026	58.8%
February 2026	59.2%
March 2026	61.4%
April 2026	63.5%
May 2026	64.6%
June 2026	62.6%

Month-to-month movements of less than two percentage points are treated as normal variation rather than a real change in direction.

Month-by-month figures

Monthly Ophthalmology figures at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
Month	Waiting	Under 18 weeks	Over 52 weeks
July 2025	5,750	58.6%	239
August 2025	5,593	58.4%	245
September 2025	5,510	61.4%	213
October 2025	5,383	61.9%	167
November 2025	5,208	60.9%	146
December 2025	5,248	59.9%	111
January 2026	5,211	58.8%	145
February 2026	5,235	59.2%	165
March 2026	5,362	61.4%	177
April 2026	5,324	63.5%	160
May 2026	5,506	64.6%	149
June 2026	5,477	62.6%	159

Other NHS trusts offering ophthalmology within 25 miles

No other NHS trust within 25 miles reported this service in the latest month.

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.

Related guides on this site

Work out how long you've waited
Explains how the 18-week measure is counted and what a published percentage represents.
How to switch hospitals for faster NHS treatment
Reference article on how hospital switching works within the NHS.
NHS patient choice explained
Background on the legal basis of NHS patient choice.
What happens after 52 weeks on a waiting list
Background on how year-plus waits are treated in NHS reporting.
How to use PALS about a waiting list
Reference article explaining what a Patient Advice and Liaison Service does.

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