NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Rheumatology waiting times at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 2,057 people were on the Rheumatology at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 4 in 10 people (45%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · Rheumatology across England

People waiting
2,057
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
44.7%
England: 70.4%
Over 52 weeks
231
Median wait
23 wks
Published median for this list

231 people (11.2%, roughly 1 in 9) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 25.7 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; 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 1.2% of everyone waiting at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

How published 18-week performance has changed

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

18-week performance deteriorated

Published 18-week performance for Rheumatology at this organisation has deteriorated over the past 12 months: 44.7% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 56.8% 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
44.7%
3 months earlier · May 2026
54.1% then · change to latest -9.4 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
51.7% then · change to latest -6.9 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
56.8% then · change to latest -12.1 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
59.8% then · change to latest -15.1 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202644.7%2,057
July 202644.4%2,158
June 202647.8%2,273
May 202654.1%2,441
April 202655.6%2,596
March 202656.3%2,419
February 202651.7%2,588
January 202652.7%2,657
December 202549.5%2,711
November 202549.1%2,673
October 202552.2%3,028
September 202556.2%3,054
August 202556.8%2,966
July 202555.2%2,945
June 202557.2%2,928
May 202557%2,918
April 202554.1%3,018
March 202555.9%2,745
February 202562.1%2,651
January 202559.6%2,611
December 202459.1%2,613
November 202459.7%2,689
October 202460.1%2,766
September 202457.2%2,782
August 202456.3%2,917
July 202460.6%2,786
June 202459.5%2,819
May 202460.6%2,617
April 202459.8%2,559
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 rheumatology 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 Rheumatology
TrustDistanceWaitingUnder 18 weeksDifference
Medway NHS Foundation Trust13.6 mi3,22632%-12.6 pp
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust21.3 mi446100%+55.3 pp
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust21.9 mi1,26667%+22.7 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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