NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

General surgery waiting times at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

At the end of August 2026, 3,380 people were on the General surgery at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust waiting list and about 5 in 10 people (54%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust · NHS trust · General surgery across England

People waiting
3,380
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
54.3%
England: 63.2%
Over 52 weeks
64
Median wait
17 wks
Published median for this list

64 people (1.9%, roughly 1 in 53) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 8.9 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 7.6% of everyone waiting at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS 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): 54.3% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 57.3% 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
54.3%
3 months earlier · May 2026
57.7% then · change to latest -3.4 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
56% then · change to latest -1.7 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
57.3% then · change to latest -3 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
50.6% then · change to latest +3.7 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202654.3%3,380
July 202656.4%3,300
June 202656.8%3,257
May 202657.7%3,322
April 202658.2%3,418
March 202660.7%3,464
February 202656%3,298
January 202654%3,302
December 202553.4%3,293
November 202552.6%3,274
October 202553.9%3,272
September 202555.7%3,359
August 202557.3%3,319
July 202558.1%3,310
June 202560.4%3,425
May 202561.4%3,481
April 202559.9%3,327
March 202557.8%3,244
February 202556.1%3,387
January 202555.6%3,334
December 202457.3%3,396
November 202457.1%3,573
October 202456.1%3,606
September 202454.3%3,691
August 202455%3,933
July 202453.3%4,091
June 202452.1%4,410
May 202450.8%4,727
April 202450.6%4,843
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
London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust6.2 mi3,27566%+11.4 pp
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust8.8 mi1,37159%+4.4 pp
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust9.4 mi2,47057%+3.1 pp
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust12.2 mi4,39145%-9.9 pp
Whittington Health NHS Trust12.7 mi4,34164%+9.5 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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