NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Orthopaedics waiting times at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust

At the end of August 2026, 4,774 people were on the Orthopaedics at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust waiting list and about 8 in 10 people (78%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust · NHS trust · Orthopaedics across England

People waiting
4,774
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
77.8%
England: 60.9%
Over 52 weeks
5
Median wait
10 wks
Published median for this list

5 people (0.1%, roughly 1 in 1000) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 16.9 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 48.4% of everyone waiting at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust.

How published 18-week performance has changed

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

18-week performance improved

Published 18-week performance for Orthopaedics at this organisation has improved over the past 12 months: 77.8% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 72.8% 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
77.8%
3 months earlier · May 2026
72.9% then · change to latest +4.8 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
70.9% then · change to latest +6.8 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
72.8% then · change to latest +4.9 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
68.6% then · change to latest +9.2 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202677.8%4,774
July 202676.3%4,523
June 202675.2%4,528
May 202672.9%4,465
April 202669.5%4,498
March 202669.6%4,711
February 202670.9%4,848
January 202670.1%4,860
December 202570.5%5,094
November 202572.5%7,298
October 202573.6%6,623
September 202573.4%6,578
August 202572.8%6,570
July 202571.6%6,416
June 202572.3%6,616
May 202571.1%6,459
April 202570.9%6,298
March 202572.1%6,338
February 202571.9%6,068
January 202571.3%6,291
December 202471.7%6,125
November 202471.2%5,946
October 202470.8%5,960
September 202470%5,878
August 202469.2%5,852
July 202469.5%5,872
June 202469.1%5,669
May 202470%5,704
April 202468.6%6,093
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
London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust4 mi6,56660%-18.2 pp
West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust4.2 mi5,04753%-24.5 pp
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust8.3 mi9,60954%-23.4 pp
Whittington Health NHS Trust8.7 mi2,08978%+0.4 pp
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust9.8 mi5,99360%-18 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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