NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Ear, nose and throat (ENT) waiting times at North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 3,680 people were on the Ear, nose and throat (ENT) at North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 5 in 10 people (54%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · Ear, nose and throat (ENT) across England

People waiting
3,680
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
54.4%
England: 56.8%
Over 52 weeks
37
Median wait
17 wks
Published median for this list

37 people (1.0%, roughly 1 in 100) 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 10.4% of everyone waiting at North Cheshire and Mersey 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 broadly stable

Published 18-week performance for Ear, nose and throat (ENT) at this organisation has been broadly stable over the past 12 months (a change of under 3 percentage points): 54.4% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 56% 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
54.4%
3 months earlier · May 2026
58.5% then · change to latest -4.1 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
53.3% then · change to latest +1.1 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
56% then · change to latest -1.6 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
51% then · change to latest +3.4 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202654.4%3,680
July 202655.8%3,675
June 202656.9%3,440
May 202658.5%3,259
April 202657.7%3,217
March 202657.7%3,124
February 202653.3%3,274
January 202653%3,162
December 202553.7%3,159
November 202557.7%3,069
October 202558.8%2,992
September 202559.5%3,132
August 202556%3,148
July 202557.7%3,140
June 202560.9%3,016
May 202556.1%3,026
April 202551.3%3,318
March 202554.8%3,313
February 202552.4%3,291
January 202555.5%3,177
December 202458%2,997
November 202460.9%2,954
October 202461.7%2,949
September 202462.8%2,924
August 202459.9%2,990
July 202460.3%3,100
June 202460.9%3,148
May 202457.7%3,372
April 202451%3,646
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
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust7.4 mi7,93259%+5 pp
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust11.3 mi4,78148%-6.1 pp
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust13.3 mi4,37251%-3.6 pp
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust13.5 mi9,75155%+0.5 pp
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust14.6 mi6,03751%-3.4 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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