NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Ophthalmology waiting times at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 6,195 people were on the Ophthalmology at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 5 in 10 people (51%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · Ophthalmology across England

People waiting
6,195
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
50.9%
England: 72.2%
Over 52 weeks
247
Median wait
18 wks
Published median for this list

247 people (4.0%, roughly 1 in 25) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 21.3 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 4.5% of everyone waiting at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.

How published 18-week performance has changed

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

18-week performance improved

Published 18-week performance for Ophthalmology at this organisation has improved over the past 12 months: 50.9% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 42.1% 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
50.9%
3 months earlier · May 2026
56% then · change to latest -5.1 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
43.8% then · change to latest +7.2 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
42.1% then · change to latest +8.9 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
49.9% then · change to latest +1 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202650.9%6,195
July 202650.3%6,137
June 202655.3%6,277
May 202656%5,997
April 202652.4%6,256
March 202650.3%6,486
February 202643.8%6,850
January 202641.2%6,793
December 202543.5%6,940
November 202545.7%7,085
October 202546.4%7,077
September 202543.3%7,143
August 202542.1%6,879
July 202544.2%6,820
June 202543.8%6,940
May 202549.2%7,305
April 202550.3%7,202
March 202550.8%7,078
February 202551.2%6,748
January 202552%7,126
December 202450.1%6,640
November 202450%6,727
October 202450.6%6,791
September 202447.6%6,851
August 202449.3%7,177
July 202448.8%7,070
June 202449.3%7,017
May 202454.2%7,426
April 202449.9%7,626
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 ophthalmology 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 Ophthalmology
TrustDistanceWaitingUnder 18 weeksDifference
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust4.3 mi12,42168%+17.5 pp
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust6.3 mi5,03670%+19.5 pp
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust10.7 mi4,66259%+7.8 pp
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust13.5 mi1,59582%+30.6 pp
North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust13.5 mi2,68685%+33.7 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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