NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Orthopaedics waiting times at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

At the end of August 2026, 5,637 people were on the Orthopaedics at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust waiting list and about 5 in 10 people (50%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust · NHS trust · Orthopaedics across England

People waiting
5,637
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
50.1%
England: 60.9%
Over 52 weeks
361
Median wait
18 wks
Published median for this list

361 people (6.4%, roughly 1 in 16) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 10.8 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 12.5% of everyone waiting at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.

How published 18-week performance has changed

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

18-week performance broadly stable

Published 18-week performance for Orthopaedics at this organisation has been broadly stable over the past 12 months (a change of under 3 percentage points): 50.1% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 53.1% 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
50.1%
3 months earlier · May 2026
48.6% then · change to latest +1.6 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
48.5% then · change to latest +1.7 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
53.1% then · change to latest -3 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
29% then · change to latest +21.1 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202650.1%5,637
July 202649.9%5,668
June 202649.2%5,624
May 202648.6%5,495
April 202648.9%5,425
March 202649.2%5,299
February 202648.5%5,351
January 202649.7%5,385
December 202550.5%5,253
November 202552.1%5,254
October 202552.5%5,201
September 202553.4%5,210
August 202553.1%5,006
July 202554%4,856
June 202554.4%4,809
May 202552%4,707
April 202550.4%4,560
March 202549.5%4,598
February 202547.6%4,749
January 202546.4%4,919
December 202446.6%5,091
November 202446.1%5,260
October 202445.7%5,534
September 202443.5%5,717
August 202440.2%5,994
July 202438.1%6,348
June 202435.5%6,695
May 202431.9%6,956
April 202429%7,249
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.
  • Trauma and Orthopaedics covers many conditions and operations. These figures are not specific to hip or knee replacement.
  • 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 orthopaedics 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 Orthopaedics
TrustDistanceWaitingUnder 18 weeksDifference
Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust21 mi93100%+49.9 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.

Related guides on this site

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