NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

General surgery waiting times at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 4,391 people were on the General surgery at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 4 in 10 people (45%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · General surgery across England

People waiting
4,391
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
44.5%
England: 63.2%
Over 52 weeks
164
Median wait
21 wks
Published median for this list

164 people (3.7%, roughly 1 in 27) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 18.7 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 3.2% of everyone waiting at Royal Free London 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): 44.5% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 42.9% 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
44.5%
3 months earlier · May 2026
41.9% then · change to latest +2.6 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
43.8% then · change to latest +0.7 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
42.9% then · change to latest +1.6 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
36.7% then · change to latest +7.8 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202644.5%4,391
July 202642.5%4,256
June 202641.7%4,105
May 202641.9%4,306
April 202641.5%4,257
March 202646.5%4,107
February 202643.8%4,231
January 202644.7%4,217
December 202546.3%4,074
November 202543.5%3,743
October 202543.9%3,589
September 202543.9%3,439
August 202542.9%3,379
July 202541.1%3,336
June 202540.1%3,393
May 202538.8%3,340
April 202538.8%3,361
March 202540.3%3,375
February 202542.3%3,375
January 202542.9%3,457
December 202442.2%2,120
November 202445.9%2,087
October 202444.5%1,990
September 202445.4%2,006
August 202443.1%1,960
July 202438.3%1,806
June 202438%1,902
May 202441.5%1,900
April 202436.7%1,863
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
Whittington Health NHS Trust1.5 mi4,34164%+19.3 pp
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust2.2 mi7478%+33.9 pp
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust2.5 mi2,23359%+14.2 pp
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust4.3 mi1,64856%+11.3 pp
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust4.3 mi14888%+43.3 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

Related pages

All hospitals