NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

General surgery waiting times at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 5,701 people were on the General surgery at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 5 in 10 people (49%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · General surgery across England

People waiting
5,701
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
48.5%
England: 63.2%
Over 52 weeks
480
Median wait
19 wks
Published median for this list

480 people (8.4%, roughly 1 in 12) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 14.7 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 4.2% of everyone waiting at Northern Care Alliance 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 broadly stable

Published 18-week performance for General surgery at this organisation has been broadly stable over the past 12 months (a change of under 3 percentage points): 48.5% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 49.4% 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
48.5%
3 months earlier · May 2026
47.8% then · change to latest +0.7 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
44.4% then · change to latest +4.1 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
49.4% then · change to latest -0.9 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
50.3% then · change to latest -1.8 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202648.5%5,701
July 202648.5%5,572
June 202648.3%5,463
May 202647.8%5,459
April 202650.2%5,641
March 202649%5,470
February 202644.4%5,164
January 202644.1%5,324
December 202545.7%5,507
November 202548.3%6,089
October 202549.5%6,458
September 202550.1%6,424
August 202549.4%6,359
July 202549.8%6,247
June 202548.5%6,257
May 202548.1%6,023
April 202546.5%5,823
March 202546.8%5,529
February 202546.8%5,281
January 202547.7%5,168
December 202447.7%5,058
November 202447.9%5,134
October 202449.2%5,192
September 202451%4,991
August 202450.3%4,902
July 202451.8%4,943
June 202450.3%4,929
May 202451.6%5,155
April 202450.3%5,112
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
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust4.3 mi5,47659%+10.9 pp
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust6.3 mi4,11968%+19.9 pp
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust10.4 mi1,29678%+29.5 pp
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust10.7 mi3,41065%+16.2 pp
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust13.5 mi2,12945%-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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