NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

General surgery waiting times at North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 718 people were on the General surgery at North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 8 in 10 people (76%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · General surgery across England

People waiting
718
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
75.8%
England: 63.2%
Over 52 weeks
2
Median wait
11 wks
Published median for this list

2 people (0.3%, roughly 1 in 333) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 12.6 percentage points better than 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 2% of everyone waiting at North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust.

How published 18-week performance has changed

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

18-week performance improved

Published 18-week performance for General surgery at this organisation has improved over the past 12 months: 75.8% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 64.6% 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
75.8%
3 months earlier · May 2026
79.2% then · change to latest -3.4 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
74.6% then · change to latest +1.1 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
64.6% then · change to latest +11.2 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
61.2% then · change to latest +14.6 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202675.8%718
July 202679.5%787
June 202680.4%808
May 202679.2%715
April 202678.1%694
March 202679.2%683
February 202674.6%702
January 202672.8%643
December 202569.3%651
November 202569%664
October 202570.2%773
September 202569.1%739
August 202564.6%777
July 202565.9%877
June 202559.9%808
May 202557.3%773
April 202559.4%827
March 202560.4%770
February 202564.6%768
January 202568.3%783
December 202470.1%755
November 202468.2%737
October 202469.3%713
September 202468.3%684
August 202467.2%644
July 202465.5%681
June 202463.8%654
May 202465.9%648
April 202461.2%631
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 general 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 General surgery
TrustDistanceWaitingUnder 18 weeksDifference
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust7.4 mi6,31460%-15.5 pp
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust11.3 mi2,12945%-31.2 pp
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust13.3 mi4,11968%-7.3 pp
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust13.5 mi5,70149%-27.2 pp
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust14.6 mi2,26948%-27.5 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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