NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Oral surgery waiting times at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

At the end of August 2026, 2,511 people were on the Oral surgery at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust waiting list and about 5 in 10 people (55%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust · NHS trust · Oral surgery across England

People waiting
2,511
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
54.8%
England: 53.8%
Over 52 weeks
59
Median wait
16 wks
Published median for this list

59 people (2.3%, roughly 1 in 43) 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 3% of everyone waiting at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

How published 18-week performance has changed

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

18-week performance deteriorated

Published 18-week performance for Oral surgery at this organisation has deteriorated over the past 12 months: 54.8% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 60.7% 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
54.8%
3 months earlier · May 2026
57.8% then · change to latest -3 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
62.9% then · change to latest -8.1 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
60.7% then · change to latest -5.9 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
72.2% then · change to latest -17.4 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202654.8%2,511
July 202655.9%2,404
June 202656.1%2,221
May 202657.8%2,117
April 202659.5%1,994
March 202662.5%1,939
February 202662.9%1,846
January 202665.4%1,713
December 202567%1,746
November 202565.7%1,731
October 202565.2%1,716
September 202561.4%1,776
August 202560.7%1,773
July 202563.5%1,785
June 202565.7%1,832
May 202570.3%1,884
April 202572.7%1,812
March 202578.4%1,687
February 202581.5%1,750
January 202582.7%1,714
December 202482.3%1,539
November 202481.9%1,427
October 202480.5%1,371
September 202480%1,390
August 202474.9%1,408
July 202474.2%1,440
June 202471.9%1,382
May 202472.5%1,405
April 202472.2%1,497
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 oral surgery 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 Oral surgery
TrustDistanceWaitingUnder 18 weeksDifference
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust7.4 mi4,07051%-4 pp
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust11.4 mi1,49263%+8.7 pp
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust13.3 mi2,25656%+1.3 pp
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust15.3 mi2,07347%-7.5 pp
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust17.3 mi2,26849%-5.7 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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