NHS Wait Helper

Hospital service waiting times

Ophthalmology waiting times at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

At the end of August 2026, 3,242 people were on the Ophthalmology at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust waiting list and about 6 in 10 people (58%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust · NHS trust · Ophthalmology across England

People waiting
3,242
End of August 2026
Under 18 weeks
58.2%
England: 72.2%
Over 52 weeks
15
Median wait
15 wks
Published median for this list

15 people (0.5%, roughly 1 in 200) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

This hospital's published position is 14 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 7.5% of everyone waiting at Wirral University Teaching Hospital 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 broadly stable

Published 18-week performance for Ophthalmology at this organisation has been broadly stable over the past 12 months (a change of under 3 percentage points): 58.2% of people on the waiting list at the end of August 2026 had been waiting under 18 weeks, compared with 58.5% 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
58.2%
3 months earlier · May 2026
62% then · change to latest -3.8 percentage points
6 months earlier · February 2026
58.5% then · change to latest -0.3 percentage points
12 months earlier · August 2025
58.5% then · change to latest -0.3 percentage points
Earliest available · April 2024
47.2% then · change to latest +11 percentage points
Month-by-month figures
Share waiting under 18 weeks by month
Month endUnder 18 weeksPeople waiting
August 202658.2%3,242
July 202660.6%3,262
June 202661.8%3,431
May 202662%3,454
April 202660.1%3,189
March 202661%3,104
February 202658.5%3,106
January 202658.8%3,055
December 202558.7%3,121
November 202557.2%3,181
October 202557.8%3,240
September 202556.7%3,445
August 202558.5%3,390
July 202559.2%3,240
June 202561.5%3,250
May 202563.3%3,126
April 202557.3%2,911
March 202554.1%3,169
February 202552.6%3,288
January 202551.8%3,260
December 202450.7%3,422
November 202451.5%3,560
October 202451.7%3,664
September 202453.3%3,787
August 202452.9%3,677
July 202452.4%3,634
June 202449.5%3,461
May 202448.8%3,492
April 202447.2%3,694
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
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust6.1 mi8,34877%+18.3 pp
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust9.6 mi786%+27.5 pp
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust13.3 mi3,87169%+10.8 pp
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust13.8 mi3,18470%+12.2 pp
North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust20.1 mi2,68685%+26.4 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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